


TSN Kink Meme Prompt Ficlets - Eduardo/Mark

by twilight_shades



Series: The Social Network Kink Meme Prompt Ficlets [1]
Category: The Social Network (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Bachelor Auction, Car Accidents, Domestic Violence, Dubious Consent, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Huddling For Warmth, M/M, Panic Attacks, Possessive Behavior, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Serious Injuries, Sexual Dysfunction, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 00:15:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 37
Words: 84,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11566344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilight_shades/pseuds/twilight_shades
Summary: Many different ficlets, which include, but are not limited to: cuddling for warmth (Chapter 10), a pretend relationship (Chapters 16 and 32), a bachelor auction (Chapter 22), a car accident (Chapter 23), a fire (Chapter 25), a naked first meeting (Chapter 27), and Mark wanting to be taken care of (Chapter 37).Each ficlet gets a chapter, summaries for all in the first chapter, all Eduardo/Mark with other pairings noted.Full prompts in chapter summaries.





	1. Fic Summaries

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in 2011 to THE SOCIAL NETWORK KINK MEME [PARTS ONE - SIX] on [](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/profile) [**tsn_kinkmeme**](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/)
> 
> Disclaimer: Do not own. Complete fiction. Characterizations based solely on dramatized characters as presented in the movie.

2) Mark has a secret blog and Eduardo reads it.  
3) Mark has sex dreams about Eduardo.  
4) Mark/Eduardo White Collar/Catch Me If You Can AU.  
5) White Collar/Catch Me If You Can AU sequel.  
6) Five times Eduardo cried, and one time Mark did.  
7) Eduardo and Mark are stuck in a closet and Mark’s claustrophobic.  
8) Eduardo and everyone else are entranced with Mark’s dimples.  
9) Mark leaves everything behind and Eduardo finds him on an island.  
10) Eduardo and Mark sharing warmth.  
11) Mark is attacked by a stalker and Eduardo finds out.  
12) Eduardo/Mark universe switch.  
13) Five endearments Mark hated and the one he didn't mind so much. (minor Mark/Other, minor Mark/Erica, Eduardo/Mark)  
14) Spy!AU in which Eduardo is the secret agent, and Mark and Dustin are his tech guys, and Chris is their handler.  
15) Mark is exposed to sex-pollen.  
16) Mark and Eduardo pretend to be married.  
17) AU where Mark takes a liking to Cameron which Eduardo doesn’t like. (Eduardo/Mark, Cameron/Eduardo/Mark)  
18) Sean abuses Mark and Eduardo finds out and helps.  
19) Eduardo starts a relationship with Mark, planning to break his heart as revenge, but it doesn’t work the way he planned.  
20) Mark, missing Eduardo when he’s in Brazil, breaks into Eduardo’s room and sleeps in his bed, where Eduardo finds him when he gets back.  
21) Eduardo wants Mark back in his life, so he goes to tell him that.  
22) Mark is participating in a bachelor auction and Eduardo is bidding.  
23) Mark is in a car accident, hurt pretty badly, and he calls Eduardo and tells him things he thinks Eduardo should know.  
24) Eduardo is jealous and possessive when he thinks Mark is dating Sean.  
25) Mark’s in a burning building and Eduardo rescues him leading to confessions.  
26) Dustin posts about Mark’s virginity and Eduardo comes to try his chances with Mark.  
27) The first time Mark and Eduardo meet, Mark is naked.  
28) Mark gets called a robot one too many times and ends up leaving drunk, hurt voicemails on Eduardo’s phone.  
29) Eduardo has erectile dysfunction except around Mark.  
30) Mark doesn’t want to reconcile, but Eduardo’s determined.  
31) Eduardo was possessive of Mark in college and even after everything, he still feels it.  
32) Eduardo’s not happy about Mark’s relationship with Sean, but he doesn’t do anything until it looks like Sean is abusing Mark – thing is, neither the relationship nor the abuse is real.  
33) Mark was in an abusive relationship in the past, so when Eduardo smashes that laptop, it brings it all back and Mark can’t be around Eduardo. (past Mark/Other)  
34) Mark blanks on Eduardo’s name and that is unacceptable to Eduardo.  
35) Mark usually only focuses on his work, so when he gives his attention to something else, the people in his life aren’t exactly thrilled – he should focus on them.  
36) Drunk Eduardo rambles at Mark while Mark is wired in and thinks Mark can’t hear him, but he’s wrong.  
37) Mark actually liked it when Eduardo took care of him back in college, even though he didn’t act like it, and now that they’re rebuilding their friendship, Mark needs to tell him.


	2. The Last Entry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/390.html?thread=774022#t774022): eduardo/mark. mark has a secret blog/livejournal/whatever where he writes letters to eduardo (i love you, i miss you, i should have made you stay ect). eduardo finds it one day and slowly finds out that it's mark. when i thought of this prompt i pictured it ending happy mushy blah blah but i'll leave that up to you. pining!mark is my favorite mark what can i say.

Dustin tends to send Eduardo links to pictures or videos or websites he seems to think Eduardo will find interesting. To be fair, Eduardo does find a lot of them fascinating in a train wreck sort of way, but he can’t seem to get Dustin to understand that he truly has no interest in chickens, even funny ones. So, getting a message from Dustin with a link in it isn’t anything special. But the message itself, serious, when Dustin rarely is, and about Mark, who Dustin never mentions, is something else:

_I hacked into Mark’s computer to see what sites he wastes time on. Yeah, I know I shouldn’t, but it’s good practice and I wanted to know. And I know you probably don’t want to know anything about Mark, but I really think it’s important that you see this, so please click the link._

The second he opens it, he knows it belongs to Mark. **Question Mark** \- if it’s a blog, Mark has to put his name on it, somehow, even if no one is supposed to know it’s his.

The last entry reads:

_I’m sorry if I hurt you the way you hurt me._

Eduardo blinks, confused, and scrolls to the first entry.

_I said that ads were the wrong way to go. I said that you should come to California. So, you went to New York to find advertisers. Then, when you finally did come to California, I told you I needed you and it’s like you didn’t even hear me. You were upset about Sean, about Christy. You froze the accounts and left and you didn’t even tell me. You had the gall to say it was to get **my** attention._

Eduardo is taken aback. He’d been so caught up with being stressed about finding advertisers, being scared of Christy, and being annoyed about Sean, that all he had really heard from Mark was that he was being left behind. He remembered Mark telling him to come out to California, but he hadn’t heard the I need you that had been behind it. He’d barely heard the actual I need you Mark had said. What he had heard was that what he was doing wasn’t valuable, which was apparently true, but wasn’t the whole story.

The next entry makes him sigh.

_I didn’t tell my lawyers about the stupid chicken story and I didn’t tell anyone at the paper about it. How many people were there? How many people saw you? It wasn’t me._

Yes, when he really stops to think about it, it doesn’t make much sense for it to have been Mark.

The next entry reads:

_I was impressed by Sean because he thought big. I needed that. I needed to not be limited. I don’t know. I know he’s far from perfect. So am I._

Eduardo can’t stand Sean, but he can understand how appealing Mark had found him. Still, it gives him a little boost every time he reads a news story that shows how weak Sean’s character is, because he was right about that. 

He breathes in sharply when he reads the next entry.

_I didn’t apologize to Erica, after that thing in the bathroom. Maybe I would have if she had come with me to talk in private. It’s humiliating to apologize in front of a lot of people. Maybe I would have told you why, if you had come to me alone and asked me. I was never going to say why in front of all those lawyers. Of course, they didn’t care about the why, just the what, where, when, and who. But I think you care about the why._

He had wanted to know why and he’d known about two minutes into the suit that he wouldn’t get that answered.

The next entry reads:

_It was never about the Phoenix. Yes, I wanted to be accepted and yes, I wanted people to think I was special. And those clubs were just an easy way to get both. But as everything got bigger, I didn’t need that anymore. Because I was accepted and I was special. I had created something amazing. Every time you didn’t recognize that, every time you talked about ads, every time we expanded and you thought it was just the way things happened, it made it less special. It made me less special._

It’s funny, he’d said that he was Mark’s only friend, which, okay, had maybe been a little over the top, but he hadn’t thought that anything that he’d done had really affected Mark that much.

He laughs at the first line of the next entry.

_I have a bad temper. You can’t say you didn’t know that about me. You saw what I wrote about Erica. I was so angry at her. I was so angry at you. When you didn’t catch on about the contract, about how you could be pushed out, I felt almost justified. How could a CFO not read closely anything to do with dividing up the company? I didn’t feel bad about it at all. Until I saw the look on your face after you smashed my computer._

He did know that. He feels a little embarrassed at how naive he had been then, how trusting.

Back to the last entry:

_I’m sorry if I hurt you the way you hurt me._

He stares at that sentence for a long, long time. He pulls out his phone and texts Dustin:

_Dustin, stop hacking Mark._

And sends it and then texts:

_Thanks._

He sends that and looks at his phone for a few seconds before he enters a number that Chris had sent him once that he’d somehow memorized. He types in the sentence in the last entry and hits send before he can back out. He hopes that Mark gets it, that Mark understands everything that he’s trying to say.

A couple of minutes later, his phone rings and it’s Mark’s number. He takes a shaky breath and answers the phone, “Hello, Mark.”

“Wardo.”


	3. Feeling Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/390.html?thread=1340294#t1340294): Eduardo/Mark sexydreams. okay, i really want (por favor!) mark having insanely kinky/romantic/hot/adorable/whatever sex dreams about eduardo (harvard era would probs work) and then being all flustered and embarrassed around him until finally wardo's like- dude, why are you being so fucking weird and mark's like well shit i dreamed i was fingering you last night and you came all over me and i liked it. and then there are sexy times! bonus pts if one of the dreams involves crossdresssing!wardo, mmmm.

Mark wakes up suddenly, breathing hard, not sure if the echo of the name he had shouted out is only in his mind. He listens hard, but doesn’t hear anything from Chris or Dustin, so either they hadn’t heard it through the walls or it was only in his dream. Mark rubs his hands over his face. His dreams are getting out of hand – it’s the fourth one in as many days. 

A few weeks ago he’d started having vague dreams about Eduardo. They hadn’t been anything special, but there had been a lot of touching. Mark had given it some thought (not much really because code usually took over after a few minutes) and decided that perhaps he was repressing something. So, he’d looked some things up on the internet. He’d thought, stupidly, it now seems, that knowing more about gay sex would help. Instead, his dreams had taken a decidedly graphic turn. And apparently, Eduardo hadn’t been just a convenient target for his feelings - all of his stray thoughts, his dreams, his… fantasies revolve around Wardo.

He’s not even entirely sure from where in his psyche the first overtly sexual dream had come. Eduardo had worn a teeny, tiny pleated skirt and Mark had been on his knees. Mark had run his hands up, up Eduardo’s long legs and pulled down the panties he had on underneath the skirt. Then Mark had slowly bunched up the skirt in his hands as he pushed it up, revealing more and more of Eduardo’s thighs. Mark had just started to lean his head forward when his alarm had gone off. He’d been more pissed off than relieved.

Mark figures the second dream came from the fact that he’s relentlessly oral - he likes having something in his mouth, Twizzlers are especially good. In the dream, Eduardo had been naked on a bed and Mark had started out licking him everywhere he could and then he started sucking, lips, earlobes, neck, nipples. Dream Wardo had really liked it when Mark had started sucking on his fingers.

Oddly, the dream that was most discomfiting might have been the one where Eduardo had just been holding him. They had been in bed, in t-shirts and shorts, and Mark had been half on top of Eduardo with his head on Wardo’s chest. Wardo had had his arms around him and it had felt good, comfortable and… right.

Last night had been something else, though. Mark had been using his fingers on Eduardo, in Eduardo. Wardo had made the most interesting noises before coming all over himself and Mark. And if Mark needs to spend a lot of time in the shower this morning, well that’s nobody’s business but his, no matter what Dustin has to say about it.

~~~

Late afternoon, after a completely useless math class, Mark settles down in front of his computer, but he ends up staring off into space, thinking about his dreams. There’s a knock on the door and Mark focuses back in on the screen. He can hear someone open the door and then Chris talking to Eduardo. Mark doesn’t know how to behave around Eduardo, now. The last few days, he’d been alternately avoiding him or seeking him out, neither of which he usually did. He’s hyper aware when Eduardo’s around and twitchy because of it. He knows Eduardo has noticed. He knows that sooner or later Wardo will confront him. He hoping for later, much later.

“Hey, Mark,” Eduardo says from right behind him.

A shiver runs down his spine and he does his best not to show it. He doesn’t turn around, just keeps looking at the screen. “Wardo.”

“What are you working on?”

“Just coding up a user interface for an analysis program.”

“What’s it analyzing?”

“Data.”

“Wow, that’s so informative, Mark. I never would have guessed that your program analyzed _data_.”

Mark actually turns around then because Eduardo doesn’t employ sarcasm all that much.

Eduardo’s settled on his bed and is smiling a little at him. “Oh good, I have your attention. What the hell has been going on with you?”

“Nothing. Just not sleeping well. Let it go.”

“Hmm, no.”

“What?”

“I won’t let it go. As a matter of fact, if I have to stay here until you tell me, I will. And I will get Chris and Dustin in on the act. You won’t have a moment of peace. Oh, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll call your mother. She likes me, she’ll help. Of course, she’ll worry about you if I tell her you’re acting weirdly, even for you. Do you want to worry your mother, Mark? Do you?”

“That’s low, Wardo. You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

“If I have to.”

Mark looks at Eduardo’s determined face for a moment. “Okay, you asked for it.”

“I did. And I will accept any and all consequences.”

“I dreamed I was fingering you last night and you came all over me and I liked it,” Mark says as flatly as possible.

Eduardo blinks and says, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Also there was a dream with a lot of licking and sucking and one with you in a skirt. I’m not actually sure which of them I like the best. They all had their merits. Did you know that the internet has some very interesting things about gay sex on it? There are also some things that I really didn’t understand the appeal of.”

“S-skirt?”

“Yes, it was kind of hot, in the dream, at least.”

“Are you- do you-“

“Am I what? Gay? Yes, or well, maybe bi. Do I want you? Yes, but that doesn’t have to mean-“

Eduardo cuts him off. “No! That’s not what I was trying to ask. I wanted to ask a) are you sure and b) do you have any lube and condoms?”

“What?”

“Oh wait.” Eduardo gets off the bed and closes the bedroom door and locks it. Then he sheds his jacket and hangs it up on hook. He turns and starts walking back over to Mark, pulling his tie loose. He sits back down on the bed and takes off his shoes and socks. He stands and pulls his shirt loose from his slacks and starts to unbutton it. Mark is kind of shocked at how fast things are moving. He’s about to say something when Wardo finishes unbuttoning his shirt and pulls it off. Mark swallows, staring at the expanse of bare tan skin. Then Wardo goes to his knees and suddenly Mark is looking right into his eyes. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted this? I flirted with you for pretty much all of Freshmen year and then I gave up, figured you weren’t interested. And then you hooked up with Erica, so I thought I’d just got it wrong. Then you broke up and said you needed me and I thought that maybe, but no. Dammit, Mark, you’d better not be fucking with me and you’d better be sure.”

“You were _flirting_ with me?”

“Yes, but you’re so much inside your head, like it’s so much more interesting than anything outside of it, you didn’t notice.”

“You could have just said.”

“That’s not always the best idea. But, yeah, maybe I could have, to you.”

“I probably would have had to think about it, some. But then I would have realized much sooner.”

“Yes, you’re right, Mark. Your possible revelation was much more important than my fears.”

“Well, we could have gotten _here_ much faster.”

“Touché.” 

Wardo leans in and gently kisses Mark, pulling down the zipper of his hoodie. Mark kisses back, a little roughly. Wardo pulls back and pushes the hoodie off Mark’s shoulders. Then Wardo stands up and pulls Mark up, too. Mark pulls free of the sleeves and lets the hoodie drop to the floor. Wardo strips him out of his t-shirt and pants. He sheds his own pants and underwear and looks at Mark. Mark pushes his boxers down and steps out of them. Wardo backs Mark over to the bed and gives him a little push. Mark falls on the bed, his flip-flops falling to the floor, which Wardo notices. “I don’t really like those things, but that is convenient.”

“It’s why I wear them,” Mark deadpans.

“I knew there had to be a reason.”

Wardo climbs on the bed, knees between Mark’s legs and hands on the bed on either side of Mark’s chest. He leans down and kisses Mark and this time it’s not gentle. It’s like Wardo’s trying to devour him and Mark is completely on board with that. Wardo pulls back with a groan and then nips at Mark’s lips a couple of times. Then he shuffles down the bed and licks at Mark’s abdomen. Mark’s dick, which had gone hard with Wardo’s first kiss, twitches, or maybe all of Mark twitches, it’s a little difficult to tell. Wardo licks a wet stripe up his dick and Mark digs his fingers into the bedding. Wardo mouths at the head a little, teasing. Then he puts his mouth over the head and sucks.

“Wait, Wardo,” Mark says in a strangled voice.

Wardo pulls back. “What?”

“Could we – could I-“

“What?”

“I want to be inside you.”

“You- oh. Yeah, we could definitely do that. But that goes back to my question.”

“I am completely fucking sure.”

“Well, good, but I meant lube and condoms?”

“Oh, um top dresser drawer, there should be both in there.”

Wardo quickly retrieves them.

“Have you done this before?” Mark asks.

“Yes, once or twice.”

“Okay.”

Wardo drops a couple of condoms on the bed and kneels on the bed. He squeezes out some lube and reaches back.

“Wait. I, um, could I?”

Wardo’s eyebrows go up, but he nods. Mark sits up and Wardo takes his hand and lubes up three fingers.

Mark reaches between Wardo’s legs and brushes the tip of his lubed up index finger against Wardo’s hole and Wardo shudders a little. Mark pushes his finger gently inside. Wardo bites his lip. Mark pulls his finger out and pushes back in a few times and then tries two fingers. Wardo tenses up a little at first, but then relaxes. Mark crooks his fingers and Wardo twitches and a hand comes up to clamp on Mark’s shoulder.

“Mark, don’t do that again. Unless you don’t want to get to the-“

Mark does it again, partly because he doesn’t like being told what to do (or what not to do) and partly because he liked it. He likes watching Wardo like this, when it’s all about Wardo’s reactions and not about getting himself off. He crooks them again and presses a little. And Wardo shakes and moans, so he does it again and this time Wardo comes, all over Mark’s chest and neck and a little on his chin. Mark is absolutely stunned when he comes, too. 

Wardo kind of collapses forward onto Mark. Mark pulls his fingers free. Mark lets himself fall back so that he’s lying on the bed and Wardo’s lying on him. Wardo shifts over to the side and Mark goes to get up and Wardo pulls him back.

“I’m just going to get something to clean up. This will get gross in a few minutes.”

“Oh, but what about-“ Wardo stops, looking at Mark’s dick.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Oh.”

Mark grabs his t-shirt and wipes himself down and then wipes off Wardo. He tosses the t-shirt and then climbs back into bed, feeling strangely bashful. Wardo pulls him in and wraps his arms around Mark.

“Give me a few minutes and we can try again,” says Wardo.

“Okay,” says Mark. He settles in against Wardo, feeling right.


	4. Cyber Division

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/1522.html?thread=1692914#t1692914): Eduardo/Mark. White collar/Catch me if you can AU. Mark is the best hacker there is, Eduardo is the FBI agent.

Eduardo slams the file folder closed with a frustrated sigh. He understands that as a probationary agent, he doesn’t get to choose which cases he works on, but this one is going to drive him around the bend. They’ve only ever been able to tie Mark Zuckerberg aka The Ghost, shortened from The Ghost in the Machine (Seriously, who comes up with these nicknames?), to two incidents, and even then the evidence had been awfully tenuous and both of the companies involved had been rather reluctant to cooperate.

Zuckerberg is suspected in at least thirty other separate instances of cyber crime over the past seven years. Considering Zuckerberg is only a few months shy of Eduardo’s age, that puts the beginning of his spree at sixteen. The things that he can allegedly do with a computer are a constant source of amazement and irritation to the FBI’s Cyber Division. Although Eduardo has a (very) reluctant admiration for what Zuckerberg can do, he doesn’t really understand why the man doesn’t apply himself on the legal side of things – he’d probably be a billionaire by now.

Of course, Zuckerberg isn’t exactly outgoing or charming. As a matter of fact, he is one of the most bluntly honest people Eduardo has ever met. Also, he has absolutely no compunction in cutting down someone with his words if he believes them to be his intellectual inferior (which is everyone as far as Eduardo can tell). Despite that (or perhaps because of it), Eduardo actually likes him, a little. And he worries, because one of these days, Zuckerberg is going to hack the wrong computer.

~~~

Eduardo’s just about ready to go home after helping to take down an identity theft ring. They’d been working on it for months and had finally been able to track down the perpetrators. It’s been a good day. He almost doesn’t answer his phone when it rings, but it’s ingrained now.

“Agent Saverin, Cyber Division.”

“Wardo, hi.”

Eduardo sits down in shock. It’s Zuckerberg. His reply is almost automatic, “Zuckerberg, it’s Agent Saverin, not Wardo.”

“We’ve had this conversation.”

(And they had, the last time they brought Zuckerberg in for questioning. Zuckerberg had been staring off into space, ignoring all the questions being thrown at him, and then his eyes had snapped to Eduardo’s and he’d tilted his head in curiosity. Agent Hughes, who’d been asking the questions, had trailed off in confusion.

“So, what do they call you? You don’t seem like an Eddie. Ed? No.”

Eduardo had blinked and said, “My friends call me Eduardo. You may call me Agent Saverin, Mr. Zuckerberg.”

“Hmm, no. I think you’re a Wardo.” And then he’d gone right back to staring into space. Later, when Agents Winklevoss and Narendra had taken over the questioning, Zuckerberg had quickly and coolly stated every bit of public information about them, particularly focusing in on any shortcomings, mistakes, or embarrassing events. Eduardo had felt quite sorry for them, even though they both were a bit superior. Then again, they did get off rather lightly in comparison to Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Edwards and Assistant Director Summers. And Agent Albright had transferred out of the division after a session with Zuckerberg. On the other hand, Zuckerberg did seem to have a soft spot for Eduardo himself and Agent Hughes, or at least he was much less acerbic with them.) 

“Yes, I suppose we did, but I never agreed,” Eduardo says.

“You have a point, but I don’t care.”

“Mr. Zuckerberg, is there a reason you’re calling?”

“Yes, a friend passed along some information and I’m sending it to you. I checked it out – it’s real. You have to stop it.”

“What- Hello?”

Apparently, Zuckerberg disconnected. Eduardo hangs up and tries last call return, but it doesn’t work. He logs back into his computer and opens his email and finds a new message from thghinthma@gmail.com (and of course he knows his nickname). There’s a link and ISP addresses and physical addresses. He opens the link – and it’s kids, being sold. His stomach drops and he calls SAC Thiel.

~~~

It takes a few days to coordinate everything, but they’re able to bring it all down and return a number of children. Zuckerberg is brought in for questioning again, but sticks to what he told Eduardo. Strangely, Thiel seems to like him and thanks him for his help. Zuckerberg shrugs it off, but doesn’t say anything caustic or off-putting. After Zuckerberg leaves, Eduardo finds a note on his desk.

_Wardo,_

_Thanks._

_MZ_

Eduardo isn’t entirely sure why it gives him such a warm feeling. Nor is he sure why he doesn’t throw it away, but he folds it up and tucks it in his wallet.

~~~

Over the next several months, Zuckerberg continues to give Eduardo information “passed along by a friend”. It results in a lot of successful takedowns and Eduardo gaining a lot of visibility within the division. He’s a little uncomfortable, a little grateful, and a lot wary about when the other shoe is going to drop.

Then, something big happens. None of the probies are privy to any of it, but the rumor is that the FBI was hacked. He’s called into Thiel’s office.

“Agent Saverin, please have a seat.”

Eduardo sits and waits.

“Over the past few months, you’ve received quite a few tips from Mark Zuckerberg.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And these tips have been very beneficial to several cases this division has been working on.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Actually, I’d even go so far as to say they were instrumental in a number of cases.”

“As would I, sir.”

“Good. There has been an incident that I am not at liberty to discuss with you and now it seems that Mr. Zuckerberg’s services are at our disposal.”

“Sir?”

“Officially, he’s now a consultant for us. And it seems he’ll only work with you.”

“I’m not sure what to say to that, sir.”

“Well, effective immediately, you are now a Special Agent. And you’ll have your own team, which will include Mr. Zuckerberg. If you have any recommendations for other agents on your team, let me know now.”

“Um, Agent Hughes and I work very well together.”

“Very well, he’ll be a part of the team. I think Agent Delpy would also be a good fit, if you’ve no objections.”

“No, sir.”

“Good. I will be overseeing your team and you will get your assignments directly from me.”

“And Assistant Director Summers?”

“Will be leaving Cyber Division shortly. I will be replacing him.”

“Uh, congratulations, sir.”

“Look, I know this seems rather sudden. But a restructuring has been in the works for a while. It just got pushed up. Your new team wasn’t entirely planned for, but I think it will work well for my purposes.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you have any questions?”

“I’m sure I will, once I get a chance to think this through.”

“Okay. Well, congratulations Special Agent Saverin. I will be announcing changes next Monday. Until then, please keep it to yourself.”

“Yes, sir. And thank you, sir.”

~~~

It turns out, the team works really well together, as long as they keep Mark away from other people, especially Edwards (Eduardo doesn’t know why, but Mark cannot stand the guy). Although, Mark seems to have mellowed a little as he only insults Winklevoss and Narendra every other time they meet. And he and Agent Albright, who now works in the White Collar Division, seem to have made their peace. Eduardo can even put up with Mark’s weird friend Mos (he’s pretty sure he heard Mark call him Dustin once, but he still couldn’t find anything else out about him). And now he thinks at least some of the info Mark’s given them _was_ actually passed along by a friend.

The only fly in the ointment is Sean Parker. He shows up periodically and gets Mark to do things he really shouldn’t. Parker’s not a hacker, in fact Eduardo’s not entirely sure what he is, but where he leads, Mark will usually follow. Eduardo has no idea what power Sean has over Mark, but he doesn’t like it. He finally corners Mos to ask him about it.

“I bet you always fit in. I bet you were popular and had a lot of friends,” Mos says.

“I guess so.”

“Well, Mark never fit in. He was always too smart, too honest, too fast, just too much. And Sean, well, he was the first person to recognize exactly how special Mark was. I mean, I knew he was good, but I never would have predicted the things he would be able to do. But Sean could. And imagine how it would feel if most people avoided you or made fun of you or just couldn’t seem to accept you and then someone came along and not only accepted you, but told you you were amazing and you could do great things.”

“It would probably feel really good.”

“Yeah, well, it’s better for him now, with you, with the team. And if you tell him I said that, I will totally deny it.”

“Mos, do you like Sean?”

“He’s okay, most of the time. But sometimes he talks Mark into things, well, hmm, things better left undone.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure what to do about that.”

“Well, Mark did come to you and he found a way to finagle his way onto your- oh, I should not have said that. I’m going now. We never had this conversation.” And Mos leaves as quickly as he can.

Eduardo thinks about what Mos said and what Mark has done. He gets up and goes to find Mark.

~~~

When Eduardo gets to Mark’s place, Mark’s on the phone. He lets Eduardo in and gestures at him to sit down. Apparently, Sean’s on the phone. Eduardo sighs and sits on the couch to wait. Except, except Mark seems to be angry at Sean, which is new. Mark disconnects after a few minutes of increasingly testy responses.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sean’s done something stupid. And I have to talk to Thiel. He shouldn’t- I don’t want this to reflect badly on me, on the team.”

“Mark, you’re his friend, not his keeper. It’s okay, people will understand.”

“I should still call.”

“I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that Thiel already knows. And as long as you weren’t involved, it will be fine. You weren’t involved, were you?”

“No.” Mark sits down next to him, looking tired.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you something,” says Eduardo.

“What?”

“Why me?”

Mark looks at him. “Why not you?”

“Why not Chris? Hell, why not Thiel?”

Mark furrows his brow a little. “I like you.”

“Thanks, but that really doesn’t answer my question. After all, you get along with Chris and Marylin and Thiel.”

“You’re being obtuse.”

“No, I- Oh, oh. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Wardo, I gave you a nickname. I called you with information. I left you a note. I got you your own _team_. And I got Thiel to put me on that team.”

And put that way, everything strung together like that, Eduardo feels a little foolish for not figuring it out. Eduardo looks at Mark and wonders how he can just put that out there. Maybe Mark doesn’t really know how else to be. Eduardo figures Mark deserves his complete honesty. “I’ve admired you since I first read your case file. I sometimes enjoy it when you verbally cut someone off at the knees. I think you are kind of amazing with a computer. I’m glad you’re on my team,” he pauses because the last thing is really hard to say, “I’m jealous of Sean.”

“Why?” Mark asks, looking surprised.

“You’d drop everything for him.” 

Mark’s lips quirk up in a half smile. “Not always. Not everything. I’m here with you.”

“Yes, you are.” Eduardo smiles and leans forward, brushing a kiss over Mark’s lips.

Mark shocks him by grabbing ahold of him and kissing him deeply. It’s messy and wet and passionate, in a way Eduardo didn’t know that Mark could be.

Eduardo pushes him back a little, gently, and Mark pulls back completely, looking hurt and unhappy. “I don’t want to stop. I just-“ Eduardo reaches for Mark’s t-shirt and pulls it off and then unbuttons his own shirt and pulls it off. Mark doesn’t look unhappy anymore, but he does look a little uncertain. Eduardo toes off his shoes and pulls Mark toward him. He maneuvers them so that he’s lying on the couch and Mark is on top of him. He lines up their hips and thrusts up against Mark. Mark groans and thrusts down. He would get them both out of their pants, but he has no idea how much experience Mark has and he doesn’t want him uncomfortable or thinking that they have to do more than this.

They move against each other for a few minutes, Mark licking and sucking at his neck. Then Mark moves his mouth over to Eduardo’s collarbone and bites down, not hard, but not gently either. Eduardo lets out a gasp and everything goes white for a second as he comes. Mark thrusts against him twice more before he’s coming himself. He doesn’t make a sound, but his eyes go wide and his body jerks and then he goes completely lax on top of Eduardo. Eduardo kisses the top of his head and wraps his arms around him. They’ll have to get up in a few minutes and clean up, but for right now, this is good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sequel to this, Everything, is in the next chapter.


	5. Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sequel to [Cyber Division](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11566344/chapters/25985721) (Chapter 4)

Eduardo’s trying to pull himself together in the hospital restroom. All he can think about is how close that bullet came to hitting Mark. Now, Mark is getting checked out because he hit his head when Eduardo pushed him down and Eduardo can’t help but imagine how much worse it could have been. Intellectually, he knows that although the job can involve danger, this was an unusual situation. He still can’t help but think that there was something he could’ve done.

~~~

They’d tracked down the source of the cyber attacks on government databases to an employee at mid-size software company. When they had arrived at the company, they found that the employee, a Frank Thompson, hadn’t been to work in four days. Eduardo had sent Chris, along with Narendra and Winklevoss, over to his residence to see if they could pick him up for questioning. Mark had started working on Thompson’s work computer with Eduardo looking on, while Marylin had talked to Thompson’s colleagues.

Mark had broken through Thompson’s numerous encryptions with relative ease. Mark was usually in his element when looking at code, but this time, as he went through more and more of it, he began to look troubled. Eduardo had wondered if it was going to turn into his ‘I just don’t get people’ expression.

It amazed Eduardo that for as smart as Mark was, he only really understood a few motivations when it came to crime – he totally understood doing it because you could, he understood ambition, and he even sort of understood greed, even if he didn’t really subscribe to it. And he understood (and secretly cheered on, Eduardo suspected) lashing back at those who’d wronged you. But he didn’t get it when people went out of their way to hurt people they didn’t know, he didn’t understand when people were deliberately malicious to people who didn’t deserve it.

“Wardo? I think this guy has some serious psychological issues.”

“What?”

“The comments he put in, what he’s trying to do, it’s, like, obsessive and really paranoid.”

“What he’s trying to do?”

“Yeah, we thought he was deliberately erasing all of that data with the computers his worm hijacked once this software was installed. It looks like most of that was just collateral. He’s trying to erase something in particular, his code is just casting a really wide net.”

“What’s he trying to erase?”

“Himself,” Mark had said simply.

“What?”

“It looks like he thinks someone or lots of someones are watching him or are going to come after him. He’s trying to erase every trace of himself from cyberspace.”

“That would be awfully difficult to do.”

“Yeah, and his name and some of the people and places connected to him are not that uncommon, so he’s erasing all kinds of stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with him. But the really weird thing is he doesn’t even try fill things in.”

“Why is that weird? We’ve seen people do sloppier things.”

“I’m crap at metaphors, but it’s like there’s a wall with lots of pictures on it and you just ripped off several of the pictures, damaging the wall behind them. So, the next person who looks at the wall is going to immediately see the holes and is going to wonder why those particular pictures were taken. If he’d just taken them carefully off the wall and say put a dummy picture or a copy of someone else’s picture it would be much less obvious that anything was missing.”

“So, by trying to erase himself he’s called attention to himself.”

“If we hadn’t tracked down this software so quickly, the guys putting together what data was missing would have come up with the name Frank Thompson several times over. A much easier way to go about it would be to alter any official photograph a little and then get a new identity.”

“You’ve never done that, have you?” Eduardo had asked suspiciously.

“Never done what?”

Eduardo had been about to answer when he heard yelling from outside the office. A man with a gun had stormed in and pointed it at Mark. Eduardo had pushed Mark down behind the desk and a bullet hit the wall behind where Mark’s head had been. Eduardo had pulled his weapon, but as he’d popped up, ready to fire, he’d found that Marylin had come in and subdued the man.

Eduardo had looked back down at Mark. Mark had sat up holding a hand to his head. Eduardo holstered his weapon and knelt down. He had pulled Mark’s hand away from his temple and found that a bruise was already forming. He’d quickly checked to make sure that was Mark’s only injury. He’d stared at Mark for a moment, wanting so much to grab ahold of him and not let go. But he couldn’t have. Although Marylin and Chris and Thiel had all been informed of their relationship, Eduardo hadn’t wanted to appear unprofessional in any way.

~~~

Eduardo goes to sit in the waiting room and Chris and Marylin come to find him. As Eduardo had figured, the guy with the gun is none other than Frank Thompson. He’s being held for a psychiatric evaluation. They tell him that they’ve filed their preliminary reports. It’s Friday and the rest of the paperwork and clean up can be done next week, so he tells them they can head home and he’ll call them later with news on Mark. They look at each and settle in on either side of him.

It takes awhile before Mark appears. The doctor with him looks almost amused while Mark looks annoyed. But since Mark has been treating this whole thing like it’s a nuisance that’s getting in the way of him immersing himself back into code (which is how he treats meetings, paperwork, reviews, many of the other agents, and sometimes even Eduardo himself), it’s not that surprising.

“Your colleague here has a way with words. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone leave Nurse Cogan speechless,” the doctor says as he reaches them.

“He can be quite, uh, incisive, but we like him like that,” Marylin says with a smile.

Mark looks at her blankly and Eduardo can see that he’s surprised and a little touched.

“So, Doctor, how is he?” Eduardo asks.

The doctor looks at Mark. “Go ahead and tell them,” Mark says.

“Well, he took a good knock to the head, but there’s no indication of a concussion. But if he experiences blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, loss of consciousness, prolonged confusion, or memory loss, he should come back in,” the doctor says and turns to Mark.

“Ice, acetaminophen, and rest, I remember,” Mark says before the doctor can say anything.

“Good,” the doctor says and walks away.

“So, back to the office?” Mark asks.

“You’re going home. Actually, we’re all going home,” Eduardo says.

“There’s still a ton of code to go through,” Mark protests.

“And it will still be there on Monday. We got the guy and the software has been recalled. We’ll work on the data retrieval next week,” Eduardo says.

“Yeah, Mark, come on, would rather go home or work on code?” Chris asks.

“Work on code.”

“Wow, Boss, I knew your relationship would be weird, but him preferring work to your company, that’s sad,” Chris says teasingly to Eduardo.

Eduardo glares at Chris while Mark frowns.

“Sorry, sorry, leaving now. Mark, hope you feel better,” Chris says and leaves.

“I’m going to go, too. See you Monday, Boss. I’m glad you’re okay, Mark. Bye,” Marylin says and walks off.

“Bye,” Eduardo says.

Mark just looks at Eduardo pensively.

~~~

Mark doesn’t say anything until they get back to Eduardo’s place.

“I don’t have any clothes or anything.”

They’ve only been involved for a few weeks and haven’t quite gotten to leaving things at each other’s places. “We’ll pick up some things tomorrow and you can borrow anything you need tonight.”

“I’m staying for the weekend?” Mark asks.

They hadn’t quite gotten to that either, but Eduardo doesn’t care. “Yes.”

“Okay.”

After they get inside and close the door, Mark says, “I-“ breaking off when Eduardo pulls him into his arms and holds on, trying not to squeeze too hard. Mark’s body is stiff in his arms at first, then he loosens up a bit and even tentatively puts his hands on Eduardo’s back.

“Are you okay?” asks Mark.

“Am _I_ okay? You, you were almost- You could’ve been shot.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“But you could’ve been. That bullet would’ve hit you in the head.”

“But it didn’t.”

“God, Mark, I love you, but you’re really pissing me off.”

It’s not until the silence stretches out with no smart ass response from Mark that Eduardo replays in his head what he said. And he knows, he knows. He’d known when he had seen the gun pointed at Mark and he’d felt such fear. He’d known when Mark had sat up and he’d felt such relief. He’d known in the hospital. He hadn’t planned on admitting it, though.

“Is that why you’re being like this?” Mark asks calmly.

Eduardo pulls away enough to look Mark in the eye, keeping his hands on Mark. “Wha- No! Yes. Wait,” Eduardo pauses and sighs. “Yes, it’s not unusual for someone to be upset when someone they care about was in danger.”

“I was in danger… for two seconds. You pushed me out of the way, remember? I’m fine.”

“You’re infuriating.”

“You love me,” Mark says a little smugly.

Eduardo moves a hand up to the back of Mark’s head and pushes him up against the wall. He kisses him, hard and deep and a little desperately. He kisses until they’re both breathless. He pulls back and Mark just stares at him. Eduardo grabs hold of Mark’s jacket and pulls him along to his bedroom.

When he gets to his bedroom, he strips Mark out of all his clothes and pushes him gently down on the bed. Eduardo then sheds his own clothes, Mark watching him with eyes wide and unblinking. Eduardo climbs on the bed and settles on top of Mark. He leans in and kisses him softly, teasing. He moves down, biting down lightly on Mark’s pointed chin. He moves on, sucking lightly on Mark’s neck and then his chest. He slowly makes his way down to Mark’s hard dick. He mouths at the head and then moves away. He sucks a finger into his mouth, getting it nice and wet and pulling it loose with a slight pop. He bends down to take the head in his mouth again and slides his fingertip into Mark’s hole. Mark gasps slightly and Eduardo moves his finger deeper. He sucks hard at Mark’s dick and then pulls off. He looks up to meet Mark’s eyes and his eyes catch on the bruise at him temple.

“Mark, is your head okay?”

“It can fall off for all I care,” Mark says curtly.

Eduardo smiles at him and pulls his finger free. He reaches over to the bedside table and find the lube. He slicks up three fingers. He rubs two against Mark’s hole before pushing them in a little. Mark bites at his lip and Eduardo slides them all the way in. He crooks them and Mark does a full-body twitch. This is as far as they’ve gone before and he’s brought Mark to climax this way, but he wants more. He scissors his fingers a few times and then pulls them out. He pushes in again with three fingers and Mark tenses and it’s tight. Eduardo lowers his head and licks at the shaft of Mark’s dick, flicking teasing licks and then moves lower and licks at the skin between his balls and his hole. Mark jolts and loosens, just a little. Eduardo goes back to mouthing at the head of Mark’s dick while he slides his fingers out at little and then back in. He pulls his head back and then pulls his fingers free to the barest of whimpers from Mark.

He reaches over to the bedside table and grabs a condom. He holds it up for Mark to see, silently asking if he wants take this step. Mark nods. Eduardo rolls the condom on and slicks up himself. He lines his dick up and pushes in, not stopping until he’s fully seated. Mark grabs hold of his shoulder hard. Eduardo stays still, letting Mark adjust. It’s so good, tight. He moans a little. He wants to move so badly. Mark blows out a breath and nods at him. He kisses Mark and then starts to move. He doesn’t think he’s going to last that long. He reaches down between them and grasps Mark’s dick, sliding his hand up and down the shaft in a quick rhythm. Mark begins to shake and then he comes and he’s clenching tight around Eduardo. Eduardo thrusts twice more and then he comes with an embarrassingly loud groan.

~~~

After they’ve cleaned up and Eduardo’s made sure Mark has taken some painkillers, they settle down in bed. Eduardo’s drifting off when Mark says, “Wardo.”

“Hmm?”

“What Chris said before, it’s not true.”

“What?”

“You’re more important than code.”

And that, that is better, that means more than any declaration of love from Mark. That’s everything.


	6. Probably

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/1522.html?thread=1687794#t1687794): Eduardo/Mark. Five times Eduardo cried, and one time Mark did.

1\. When Eduardo is fourteen, an English essay he wrote is entered in a statewide contest. It wins third prize. His teacher is so proud. Eduardo doesn’t tell his parents, but he doesn’t know why. It’s not until he’s making sure that the tiny article in the paper doesn’t mention his name that he realizes. His father would accept him not entering much better than he would ever accept third place. Eduardo sits there staring at the paper blurrily, wishing he could be good enough for his father.

2\. His parents let him know a week before Thanksgiving that they’re planning a trip during the holiday and he should make other arrangements. Mark actually notices that he doesn’t say anything when Chris and Dustin are talking about their Thanksgiving travel plans. Mark casually invites Eduardo to his parents’ place. Mrs. Zuckerberg pulls him aside after the big dinner and thanks him for convincing Mark to come home. When she sees the confusion on his face, she explains that Mark said Eduardo was the reason he decided not to stay at Harvard like he’d planned. He tells her she’s welcome in a slightly strangled voice before quickly heading up to the guest room to compose himself.

3\. He’s so angry and emotional, he can’t seem to help himself. He can’t believe that Sean Parker is living at the house. He can’t believe Mark is talking about leaving him behind. He’s exhausted and wet. He wipes at his eyes. He’ll make Mark see, he will.

4\. He’s so relieved when Mark invites him out for the millionth member celebration. Things have been strained between them. There’s been a distance that isn’t just physical. He’s a little overcome. Hopefully, they can talk, really talk when he gets out there.

5\. He’s not sure he can take one more day of Mark staring blankly at him across the table. He knows there’s stuff going on behind the façade, but he’s lost the ability to read it. Of course, maybe he never really had it. He tries to keep his anger up, but part of him wonders if Mark hates him now and it hurts, it hurts.

1\. Eduardo’s at an ‘event’ at a rather sprawling mansion. He should really be out there talking to people, networking. Instead, he’s mercifully found the small library to hide in. He closes the door and leans back against it. It’s dim in the room, only a small reading lamp on one of the tables across the room alight. Eduardo doesn’t even realize he’s not alone until he catches movement out of the corner of his eye. Someone’s sitting at one of the tables, head bowed. The man looks up and it’s _Mark_. And Eduardo catches a glint in the dim light. Is Mark _crying_?

“Are you okay?” comes out of Eduardo’s mouth before he can stop it.

The silence stretches out so long that Eduardo reaches for the doorknob, ready to leave. Then Mark says, “No.”

“What’s wrong?”

Mark scrubs at his face and says, “Just tired.”

And he does look exhausted… and _young_. It sort of hits Eduardo how young he really is, how young they both are, how young they both were. He goes over, pulls out a chair, and sits down across from Mark and says, “Yeah.”

Mark studies him for a moment before asking, “Can I ask you a question?”

Eduardo nods warily.

“If you could go back, change one thing, make one decision differently, which would you choose?”

Eduardo stares at Mark in confusion.

Mark elaborates, “Maybe, I don’t know, you decide not to be friends with me, maybe you decide not to give me the money when I ask, whatever. What would you change?”

Eduardo thinks for a moment. “Can I ask you a question before I answer?”

Mark does that half nod, half shrug thing that Eduardo remembers so well.

Eduardo takes a deep breath and asks something he’s wanted to ask for a very long time. “If I hadn’t frozen the account, would you have diluted my shares?”

“I’m not- No, no I don’t think so.”

Eduardo nods.

“Is that it then? You wouldn’t have frozen the account?”

“No. I think- No, I would have gone out to Palo Alto with you instead of going to New York.”

“Huh.”

“And you? Which decision would you change?”

“I would’ve told you flat out that there was no way I was going to put ads on the site.”

“CFO,” Eduardo says, pointing at himself.

“Yeah, but I was CEO. Plus, I had 65 percent, you had 30. You would have argued, but you would have lost.”

“And then I probably would have come out to Palo Alto with you to figure out what to do next.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think it would have worked?”

“I don’t know. I think a lot would have changed. Too bad we can’t go back and see.”

“Too bad.” Eduardo gives Mark a small smile and gets up to leave.

“War- Eduardo?”

Eduardo gives him a questioning look.

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“Then, what did you mean to do?”

“Make you angry.”

“I was angry. Don’t you remember me smashing your computer?”

“I remember. You were angry, yes, but you were more hurt than anything else.”

And that’s true enough. It would have been much easier if he’d only been angry. “So, you wanted me angry?”

“I wanted you to fight.”

“I did. There was a lawsuit.”

“That wasn’t you fighting - that was letting someone else fight for you.”

“And if I’d fought? If I’d argued?”

“We could have worked something out. I could have given you some of my shares, bought some back.”

Eduardo looks at Mark in shock. “You’re serious.”

“Yes.”

Eduardo sits back down. “Mark, that’s messed up.”

Mark shrugs.

They sit in silence for a few moments.

“Mark, if I had come to Palo Alto with you, would we have-“ He breaks off, not sure he can say it out loud, not sure if he should. There had been something between them, back then, that they’d never really acknowledged. Some sort of potential that there could’ve been more. There had been a lot of getting closer and then backing away. There had been more than a few moments where something had almost happened. And then, there had been the times where they’d backed off completely - Mark going out with Erica; Eduardo going out with Christy.

“Would you have broken up with Christy before coming out?” Mark asks.

Eduardo’s a little startled by the question, but answers, “Probably.”

“Probably.”

Eduardo’s confused at first, thinking Mark’s just echoing him. Then he realizes Mark’s answering his unfinished question. He smiles a bit wistfully at Mark. Mark gives him a half smile back.

“Well, I think it’s time for me to get back to the party,” Eduardo says as he stands.

Mark’s face goes blank and he nods.

Eduardo heads for the door. He turns around as he reaches it. “Hey, Mark?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I give you a call, some time?”

Mark looks surprised and then he nods.

Eduardo leaves the room and heads back to the ballroom. It’s weird how much lighter he feels now. It’s been a long time since he felt this… hopeful.


	7. Breathless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/1522.html?thread=1950450#t1950450): Eduardo/Mark, CLAUSTROPHOBIA. eduardo comes down for one of the shareholder meetings and ends up fighting mark in the middle of the office. two interns who are sick of mark being a bastard to them just before and just after eduardo visits, shut them both in a cupboard to try and force them to work it out. ONLY. mark is claustrophobic (hence the open plan of the office) and starts to panic. eduardo has to try and take his mind off of it because it's end of day and considering nobody can find mark, they think he's gone home and can go home too. maybe dustin or chris has to come back for something and they find the interns and are like WTF ARE YOU DOING and break them out, getting angry etc. TL;DR; interns shut eduardo and mark in a closet, mark is claustrophobic, lots and lots of h/c. (bonus points if while panicking, mark admits that he's sorry and if wardo will just save him he'll make it up to him, okay. only, you know. more mark-ish)

Mark is so angry that it’s almost overwhelming his building panic. He is trying so hard to hold onto it, hoping against hope that Chris or Dustin or anybody, really, will come back for some reason and notice his stuff still in his office and come looking for him. The last thing he wants to do is break down in front of Eduardo. Not because Eduardo would think he deserved it, but because he would pity Mark. And Mark can’t have that.

Mark concentrates on the door. Maybe if he doesn’t turn around he can forget how small this closet is. He should have had someone knock out one of the walls or seal it up completely when he’d had the chance. They had stored paper for the copier here because it was a lot closer to the copier than the main store room. And that had been fine until he’d needed to get paper one night when everyone else had gone home. With the boxes of paper in here, there’d been maybe four square feet of space free and Mark had been fine, until the door had swung closed. It had only taken him a few seconds to open the door again and scramble out, but he’d been breathing hard and shaking. The next day he’d had the copier moved and all the paper cleared out to the main storage room, which was large and open and even had windows. He’d planned to do something about the closet, but then some of the employees had used it for taking private calls and while he’d shuddered at the thought of coming in here voluntarily, he liked to be accommodating to his people when he could be.

Eduardo coughs behind him and he turns, writing code for a quick exit out of a program in his head. Eduardo’s looking at him strangely and Mark realizes he hasn’t said a word since yelling through the door at the two idiots who had done this.

Mark licks his lips and says, “Guess we’re stuck in here.”

“So, what exactly did you do to them?”

“What?”

“Most people’s employees don’t lock them in closets.”

Mark’s fingers are twitching so he clenches them into fists. “Apparently, they have an objection to how I treat them.”

“And why am _I_ in here?” Eduardo asks, irritated.

“They have an objection to how I treat them whenyoucomeforameeting,” Mark mumbles, his chest feeling heavier by the minute.

“What?”

“They have an objection to how I treat them when you come for a meeting.”

“Ahh. And how do you treat them?”

“I don’t ask them to work any harder or longer than I do myself.”

“That’s probably true. But they’re actually people and as actual people, they need down time, whereas you might as well be a robot.”

And wow, that hurts. It’s like a body blow and he can’t breathe for a second. He turns his back on Eduardo, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath and blowing it out slowly. He does it again and again, putting all of his attention on just breathing. There’s a place in his head that’s pure focus that he usually only uses when he’s coding something important, a place where the rest of the world and all of its distractions can’t reach. If he can just find it, maybe he can just not be here, not feel, be that robot Eduardo thinks of him as.

He can hear something, but it’s distant. He tries to get to that place again, but he hears it again. It’s Eduardo calling his name.

“Mark! Mark! Dammit, you can’t just pretend like I’m not here.”

Nope, he never could. Mark starts breathing faster. He feels shaky and his chest is tight. He wonders if anyone’s ever panicked themselves into a heart attack. He’s sure he’s read about people being literally scared to death. His arms are starting to hurt because he’s so tense and he’s clenching his fists so tight.

Eduardo is still talking and he sounds angry, but Mark can’t hear him over the roaring in his ears. He opens his eyes because somehow the darkness behind his lids was making it worse. When Eduardo grabs his shoulder, he nearly jumps out of his skin and then he skitters away. Eduardo is staring at him.

“Mark?” Eduardo says. And this time Mark can hear him perfectly, which doesn’t make sense because he said it so softly. He looks concerned.

“Mark, you’re white as a sheet. Are you okay?”

Mark can feel tears welling up and he blinks them away, determined not to cry. Eduardo has moved past concerned now and is looking worried.

“Mark, what’s-“

“I-I can’t, and there was paper, and it’s so small. Please, Wardo,” Mark gasps out.

“I’m here for you. What do you need?”

“Get me out of here. You can have anything. I-I-I’ll give you anything.”

Eduardo’s right there in front of him, holding out his hands like he wants to touch Mark, but is afraid to. “Mark-“

“You, you can have all my shares. I’ll work for you.” Mark’s shaking now.

“Mark!” Eduardo sounds shocked.

“Do you want me to apologize? I, I can do that. I’ll write it, I’ll write and you can, you can post it wherever you like. You could, you could put it on the masthead or you-“

“Mark, stop.”

The shaking is worse now. Eduardo catches him as his knees buckle and bears him to the floor. Eduardo’s arranging him into what Mark vaguely recalls is a recovery position. Mark thinks he can hear yelling from somewhere far away. “Wardo,” he says just before everything goes black.

~~~

Eduardo stares at Mark as he lies unconscious on the couch in his office, a blanket covering him. Since the dilution, Eduardo had had these little moments of vindictiveness (not often, just every once in a while) where he had hoped that some day Mark would feel as badly as Eduardo had. But he had never wanted anything like this. Seeing Mark so vulnerable hadn’t felt good or satisfying, it had felt wrong.

There’s a muted noise outside the office and Eduardo looks up through the glass wall. Chris and Dustin are on the other side with the two interns that had locked Mark and Eduardo in the closet. Chris is yelling, but Eduardo can’t tell what he’s saying because it’s too muffled. Eduardo is surprised at how grim Dustin looks. He didn’t know Dustin could look grim.

Eduardo is worried that Mark still hasn’t woken up. He wants to call for an ambulance or get a doctor here or something, but he’s aware just how much Mark would hate the publicity that would inevitably ensue. Screw it, Eduardo’s calling someone if he doesn’t wake up in the next few minutes. After another minute or so, though, Mark opens his eyes and looks confused. 

“How did I get here?” Mark asks.

“I carried you.”

Mark looks a little perturbed by that, but only says, “Oh.” Mark sits up, pushing the blanket aside, and rubs at his face. Then he stands a little shakily, then steadies, and heads over to his desk.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to call a cab to take me home. I don’t feel like driving.”

“Maybe you should go to the hospital or check in with a doctor first.”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to get away from here. I need to go home and stop thinking about it.”

“I can drive you.”

Mark looks almost as surprised by the offer as Eduardo was to have made it. Mark hesitates and Eduardo starts compiling a list in his head of reasons why Mark should let him. But then Mark says, “Okay.” Mark goes over and gets his laptop and puts it in a bag along with a couple of folders from his desk.

Eduardo holds the office door open for Mark and then follows him through. They head for the front. As they come even with Chris, Dustin, and the two interns, Chris pauses in his tirade. Both he and Dustin are watching Mark. 

“I going to take him home,” Eduardo says.

Chris gives him a brief puzzled look before his eyes settle back on Mark.

Mark doesn’t look at any of them, just stares at the floor as he mutters, “Going to work from home for the next couple of days.”

“Cool. We’ll hold down the fort here,” Dustin says.

“Thanks,” Mark says gruffly.

“No problem. And if you need anything… call Chris,” Dustin says.

Mark laughs a little, eyes meeting Dustin’s, and nods.

Eduardo waves at Chris and Dustin and glares at the two cowed interns. He and Mark walk silently out of the building, pausing briefly so he can grab his coat and briefcase from the conference room where he had left them. He leads Mark to his rental car. He unlocks it and they get in.

“My place is-“

“I know where it is.”

Mark is silent for the first ten minutes of the drive. Then he says, “I’ll have someone draw up the papers in the morning.”

“What? What papers?”

“The shares.”

Eduardo’s gaze snaps to Mark’s impassive face. He reminds himself that he’s driving and turns back to look at the road. “Jesus, Mark. I don’t want your shares. And wow, do I not want to be your boss.”

“Why not?”

“I’d tell you to do something and you’d do something innovative but not what I’d asked and I’d get mad. We’d do that a few times until I got frustrated enough to fire you, but your work would be good and it’d push us to the next level and I’d want to hire you back. And you’d come back. And we’d do that a few times until the board realized that your innovativeness was better for the company than my conventional ideas and they pushed me out and reinstated you. So, I’d rather just skip it.”

“Huh.”

“So, how long have you been claustrophobic?”

“Since I was small, maybe ten, I don’t know.”

“And Chris and Dustin know.”

“They figured it out – there was this thing with a bathroom and I, never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“You know, you could have told me, I wouldn’t’ve-“

“I didn’t want _anyone_ to know.”

“Okay.”

There’s silence for a few minutes. Eduardo keeps glancing over at Mark. He still seems a little out of it, not arguing and being weirdly docile. Eduardo wants to ask questions, but Mark’s never really been the sharing type. It’s not that he doesn’t feel, just that he keeps it to himself, tries not to let things show. Eduardo had forgotten that somehow. Since their friendship broke up, Eduardo had, in his head, built Mark into a caricature of himself – an unfeeling, uncaring mastermind only concerned with his empire. And it hurts a little to remember that he’s not, to remember the times that they’d laughed and talked together.

“I can handle it if there are windows,” Mark says out of nowhere.

Eduardo glances over, eyebrows raised, before looking back at the road.

“I don’t like it, but I can handle it.”

Eduardo nods.

They pull up to Mark’s house a few minutes later. Eduardo turns off the engine and gets out. Mark gets out. Eduardo locks the car and Mark gives him a confused look. Eduardo gestures him on and then follows as Mark makes his way to the house. Mark unlocks the door and walks in, Eduardo trailing him.

“You don’t have to-“

“I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

Mark goes into the living room and Eduardo follows. Mark puts his bag down by the coffee table and slumps down on the couch, closing his eyes. He looks exhausted. Eduardo’s watching him closely and sees when he sways a tiny bit.

“Mark.”

Mark starts and opens his eyes, looking up at Eduardo. Eduardo comes over and pulls him up off the couch.

“What are you doing?” Mark asks.

“You are going to go to sleep. In a bed.”

Mark lets Eduardo pull him along, up the stairs. Eduardo pauses at the top and looks at Mark questioningly. Mark just looks back.

“Your bedroom – which way?”

Mark waves vaguely to the right. Eduardo draws him along, into the large bedroom, and over to the bed. He pulls back the covers and gently pushes Mark down to sit on the bed. Mark watches Eduardo dully as he removes Mark’s shoes. He thinks about taking off Mark’s hoodie but decides against it. He guides Mark into lying down and drags the covers up over him. Mark stares up at him and then his eyelids slowly droop down and his eyes close.

Eduardo stands there watching him for a minute or two, debating with himself. He sighs and strips down to his undershirt and boxers and neatly folds his clothes, placing them on a low dresser. He climbs in the other side of the bed. It takes a while for him to fall asleep.

~~~

Marks wakes up in the morning and finds himself looking at sleeping Eduardo. He frowns in bewilderment, but after a few seconds memories of last night rush back. He can’t believe that Eduardo stayed. But then, Eduardo always was ridiculously soft-hearted. Mark gets up, careful not to wake Eduardo. He grabs some clothes and goes to take a shower.

After his shower, Mark goes downstairs. He gets something to drink and then he gets out his laptop. He turns it on and sits down in front of it. He opens a blank document and starts typing.

_Wardo,_

He backspaces that, too casual. He starts typing again.

_Eduardo,_

_I’m sorry._

He considers just leaving it at that and signing his name, but it doesn’t feel like enough. He continues on.

_I didn’t mean_

He backspaces again. He stops and thinks for a few minutes. He types and ends up with something that feels right.

_Eduardo,_

_I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let other people influence me. Your shares should have stayed your shares, even if we disagreed about how things should be done. I should have sat down and talked to you._

_Mark_

He copies it into an email and sends it to Eduardo from his business email address. He goes to find a printer and print it out. He signs his name to the paper copy and takes it upstairs. Eduardo’s still asleep, so he leaves it on top of Eduardo’s folded clothes.

He goes back downstairs and starts working on the code he’d been piecing together yesterday. He gets hungry after a while and goes to find something to eat in the kitchen. He doesn’t even realize Eduardo’s awake until he turns around with a can of tuna and Eduardo’s standing in front of him in yesterday’s clothes, holding the piece of paper. He flinches back a little, surprised.

“Do you mean this?” Eduardo demands.

Mark replies warily, “Yes. I emailed it to you, so you could post it wher-“

Eduardo pulls him into a hug and he stops talking. Eduardo holds on and Mark relaxes into the embrace. Eduardo whispers in his ear, “I missed you.”

Mark feels breathless, but in a good way, when he answers back, “I missed you, too.”


	8. Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/1522.html?thread=2360050#t2360050): Eduardo/Mark or Andrew/Jesse. Anything involving Jesse/Mark's dimples. Like idk, people making him laugh or tickling him or something because they find it funny-cute that he has these enormous dimples. Because c'mon, Dustin and Chris totally would. And Eduardo would find it all too endearing and sweet for words. And challenge himself to make Mark smile as often as possible. Or fill in Jesse for Mark and Andrew for Eduardo, and it could be set shenanigans and everyone trying to make Jesse giggle because he looks all boyish with his dimples.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The Smile He Loves Best](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11566722/chapters/25985937) is the Andrew/Jesse version (TSN Kink Meme Prompt Ficlets - RPF, Chapter 4).

“Wait, wait, do that again,” Dustin says from his seat on the couch next to Mark.

“What?” Mark asks.

“That, with the smile, and the, the, uh whatits. Dimples,” Dustin says.

“They really are insanely cute,” Chris chimes in.

Eduardo watches as Mark rears back from Dustin reaching out towards his face. Eduardo would get up from where he’s seated on the floor to stop Dustin, but he’s actually also fascinated by Mark’s dimples. Dustin apparently decides to take a different tack and he lunges at Mark, yelling, “Tickle attack!”

There’s some thrashing and then Mark and Dustin fall off the couch, landing between it and the coffee table. Chris meets Eduardo’s gaze and they both start laughing. Mark’s cursing and Dustin’s fake-moaning, so they’re probably okay, but Eduardo’s laughing too hard to get up and check.

Eduardo gasps out, “The Portuguese judge gives you a seven,” in between laughs.

“I give it seven for execution, eight for style – so seven point five is my final score,” Chris says.

Mark finally disentangles himself from Dustin. He gets up and glares at each of them in turn before stomping to his room and slamming the door. They all go silent for a second and then burst out laughing.

“Oh my God, oh my God, did you see that? If he ever, like, smiled at anyone, he wouldn’t have any problems getting a date,” Dustin says.

“Wait. I don’t remember ever seeing any dimples before. Does that mean that Mark’s never smiled like that before?” Chris asks, sobering.

“He smiles. Of course he smiles. When he’s amused by something or someone… although I guess, more often than not, it’s when he amuses himself,” Dustin says.

“True,” Chris says.

“Anyway, it is now my mission, if I choose to accept it, and I do, to see Mark’s dimples more often,” Dustin says.

“You know whatever you’re planning is much more likely to piss him off,” Chris says.

“That works too,” Dustin says.

Dustin and Chris continue to talk about it, but Eduardo’s not really listening anymore. He’s kind of stuck on what Chris had said. It bothers him to think that there’s a possibility that Mark’s not happy, that he hasn’t been happy. Intellectually, he knows it’s far more likely that Mark just doesn’t usually express his happiness in big smiles. Mark has always been pulled in on himself, letting very little show, but still, somehow it doesn’t feel right.

Dustin and Chris are bickering about blue jello (he really doesn’t want to know) when Eduardo gets up and goes over to Mark’s door and knocks on it. There’s no answer. He opens the door hesitantly. Mark’s sitting at his computer. Eduardo steps in and closes the door behind him. Mark isn’t typing, which is a little odd because Eduardo is so used to that as a soundtrack to being in Mark’s room. It looks like he’s just reading something.

“We didn’t mean anything by it, you know,” Eduardo says.

Mark startles and looks up. “What? Oh, that. Whatever.”

Eduardo walks over and sits down on Mark’s bed. “Hey, Mark?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you… happy?”

Mark actually turns to look at him. “Huh?”

“It’s just, none of us has ever seen you smile like that before. You know, all big and bright. I had no idea you even had dimples.”

“Oh, hey, you caught me. I’m actually a robot from the future. They tried to make me seem more human with the emotions and the imperfections in my cheeks and as you might have guessed they failed. What happen earlier was a malfunction, a glitch in the system. Happiness is irrelevant to my mission,” Mark says flatly.

Eduardo laughs and Mark’s mouth quirks up a little.

“Hey, you’re my friend, I just want you to be happy,” Eduardo says.

“Well, blowjobs make me happy,” Mark deadpans.

Eduardo smiles and slides off the bed onto his knees, ending up between Mark’s legs. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

Mark stares at him, eyes gone wide. “W- Wardo?”

“You can say no.”

Mark snorts. “Have I ever given you any reason to think I’m stupid?”

Eduardo reaches for the waistband of Mark’s shorts.

“Wait,” says Mark.

“What?”

“Can we move this to the bed?”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to be distracted by thinking about you blowing me in this chair when I’m coding in it later.”

“You won’t be distracted by it if it happens in the bed?”

“How often am I in my bed?”

Eduardo chuckles at that and then stands. He pulls Mark up and nudges Mark over onto the bed. He takes a couple of seconds to go over to the door and lock it. When he gets back to the bed, Mark’s got his shorts undone and is shoving them down. Eduardo climbs on the bed and helps him get them and his boxers down and off. 

Eduardo settles down between Mark’s legs, face hovering over Mark’s hips. Eduardo looks up at Mark. Mark’s biting his lip and watching him. Eduardo leans down and swipes his tongue around the head of Mark’s hard dick. Mark’s hips jump a little, so Eduardo wraps his hands around them to hold him still. Then Eduardo leans further down, taking Mark all the way in. Mark gasps. Eduardo pulls back a little and then moves back down.

“Wardo. Wardo. Wardo. Wardo,” Mark says like a mantra.

Eduardo pulls off and looks up at Mark again. Mark’s got his hands clenched in the bedding next to his hips and has his eyes closed. He eyes open and he looks at Eduardo and says, “Please.”

Eduardo sucks him back down and he swallows around Mark. And Mark comes. Eduardo pulls back a little, swallowing rapidly. And when he pulls of completely, he finds that Mark was telling the truth. Mark has a dimpled smile on his face that Eduardo can only describe as blissful. Eduardo thinks that it’s quite lovely and promises himself that he’ll make it happen again.


	9. Much Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/1522.html?thread=2515954#t2515954): Eduardo/Mark. Mark buys an island, goes and lives on it and ceases to bother with human interaction. When it hits the news (a few months later? IDK) Eduardo is worried and goes to visit Mark's island.

One day, in late fall, Eduardo Saverin wakes up to the end of the world. Well, okay, it’s not like an apocalypse or anything, although you wouldn’t know it from the doom and gloom the financial experts are spreading. Eduardo realizes it has something to do with Facebook and wonders what the hell Mark has done now. Eduardo turns off the TV as they start talking about Steve Jobs and Apple. Occasionally, he thinks that analysts are worse gossips than any Hollywood reporter.

He opens his laptop and opens a browser window. Apparently, the doom and gloom meant something because Facebook stock is in freefall. His news feeds have dozens of articles about Mark. He reads headlines like ‘Mark Zuckerberg Missing’, ‘Untouchable Zuckerberg Unreachable’, and ‘Facebook Creator Disconnected’. His heart jumps in his throat when he gets to ‘Zuckerberg Dead?’. He’s relieved when he clicks on the link to find that it’s just a highly speculative piece with some really wild theories. He reads a few of the other articles and everything seems to boil down to the facts that nobody seems to know where Mark is and he hasn’t been seen in almost three months.

Eduardo makes a call. “Chris, what the hell is going on?”

Chris sighs and says tiredly, “I wish I knew.”

“You mean you really don’t know where Mark is?”

“Are you asking as a shareholder?”

“I’m asking as me.”

“We thought he was taking a vacation and it was cool because he hasn’t taken time off in years. He even put Dustin in charge and appointed him proxy so he could vote Mark’s shares. I thought it was a good thing, that he was getting away from everything. I encouraged it.”

“But?”

“Two weeks went by and he didn’t come back, then three weeks, then four. We started to get concerned, but, you see, he’d sent updates. I mean he hadn’t answered anyone’s calls or emails, but it’s Mark and he sent code.”

“So, he has been in contact?”

“I’ll get to that in a minute. He was gone six weeks when Dustin found his phone in a drawer. And that was it for me. We started looking for him, discreetly. I always knew Mark was smart, but how exactly does the well-known billionaire creator of one of the most popular social networking sites just disappear?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah, neither do I. But I think he’s been planning it for a while. About a month before he left, he put a bunch of stuff in storage and sold his house. He’d never much liked it, so I didn’t think anything of it. He was in a hotel and he had his mail forwarded to the office.”

“He didn’t say anything to anyone?”

“Actually, I didn’t realize it until later, talking to his mother, that what he said was that he was going away, which is essentially what he said to her. He didn’t actually mention vacation… or coming back.”

“He’s been sending updates, though.”

“Well, the thing about that is… I’m not sure that Mark didn’t set up some sort of program to send them automatically. He once did that with email when there was this assistant who really annoyed him. Dustin says the updates are good, but most of them are for peripherals, nothing that would interfere with day to day operations. It’s stuff Mark would have worked on in his spare time. We can’t even trace where the updates are coming from, they’re routed through so many different servers.”

“And how did the press get ahold of the story?”

Chris sighs again. “Disgruntled ex-employee. It’s not like I thought we could keep it quiet forever, I’d just hoped that we would’ve found Mark before it got out. We’re going to have a press conference in about an hour – tell the public Mark is taking a long, well-deserved break and that he is keeping his hand in.”

“Well, good luck.”

“Thanks. Eduardo, I’ve been debating whether or not to call and ask you – do you have any idea where Mark might have gone?”

“Chris, I haven’t talked to Mark in years. Not really, I mean if we’re at the same event we usually exchange civil small talk for maybe a minute.”

“Yeah, but you’re still probably the person who knows him best.”

“That’s… kind of sad.”

“Yeah.”

“I cannot think of any place he would go, off hand. I’ll let you know if I think of anything.”

“Thanks.”

~~~

The press conference seems to work, or at least, people don’t seem so rabid about it. The stock climbs again, but doesn’t quite attain it’s previous levels. It’s been several weeks and Eduardo finds himself thinking about Mark at odd times. He tells himself he’s not worried, Mark can take care of himself.

Eduardo thinks of Harvard and how Mark had been, back when they were friends. Except it’s not like Mark changed, exactly. He had been infatuated with Sean and his ideas, but he hadn’t really acted all that differently. Mark had never been the easiest friend, but he had been a friend. Eduardo had told him all manner of things and had never felt judged. And every once in a while Mark would open up a little, share something about himself. He suddenly remembers something Mark had said back then that he’d taken as an idle fancy.

He looks into it, discreetly, and can’t confirm anything. He also doesn’t find anything to contradict his supposition. He thinks about letting Chris take it from here, but it feels wrong, like he’d be breaking Mark’s confidence. In the end, he tells Chris that he may have an idea and that he’ll check it out and get back to him.

~~~

It takes a long plane ride, a commuter hop, and boat ride (a boat he has to pilot himself after renting it for a week) to get to where Eduardo’s going. It’s barely a speck on the map he acquires, an island of maybe ten square miles. He’s able to find the dock that someone mentioned after a bit of searching. He ties the boat to the dock near the boathouse there. There’s a wide dirt path leading from it into the vegetation. He follows the path.

After a few minutes he comes to a clearing with a house. The house is one story and sprawls out a little, but it isn’t huge and it seems to fit the island. Eduardo doesn’t know why, but he kind of expected it to look out of place. He walks up to the front door, half hoping it’s not the right place, that some other rich guy bought the island a few years ago. 

The door swings open when he knocks and there’s Mark. Only it’s Mark with his curls grown out a little and a scruffy face. The scruff is surprising because in college, it took Mark a week before stubble even really showed, but he’d usually shave it before then. Mark’s in a faded t-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and flip-flops, not an unusual outfit for him, but it also seems to fit the place. Mark seems to fit here, like he’s been subtly out of place everywhere else he was before now.

“Hello, Eduardo,” Mark says.

Eduardo can tell from his tone that he’s not angry or surprised, but can’t get anything else from it. So, he goes with, “You don’t seem surprised that I’m here.”

“Someone let me know there was a guy asking questions about the island and the person who bought it and they gave me a description,” Mark says with a shrug. “You want to come in?”

Mark’s cordialness is knocking Eduardo off-balance. It’s not that he’d expected Mark to start yelling or anything, but he did kind of expect more sarcasm and barbed words. “Okay,” he says warily. He walks into the house and it’s airy and bright, windows and skylights and a vaulted ceiling and white walls and light colored tile floors.

Mark’s got a strange half-smile on his face as he watches Eduardo look around.

“What?”

“You know, I wondered if you’d remember me talking about buying an island down here. I should have known you would, though. You probably remember everything I ever said to you.”

“I’m not a teenager with a crush,” Eduardo says, vaguely offended.

Mark looks taken aback. “I was just commenting on your good memory.”

“Oh.”

“But, the thing is, I figured even if you did remember, you wouldn’t do anything about it. Yet, here you are. So, Eduardo, why are you here? No, wait, that’s not the right question. Why do you care enough to come down here and find me?”

Eduardo really wasn’t expecting that question so he flounders a bit. “You fell off the face of the Earth, Mark. Of course people were going to worry.”

“I did not. I told Chris and Dustin and my mother that I was going away. I arranged for Dustin to take care of Facebook. I sent updates. So, I’ll ask again, why do _you_ care?”

“Because I do! Because it’s you. There isn’t some switch that I have that I can flip that makes me not care anymore. Feelings are messy and they don’t make sense. Even when I hated you, I still cared. And it was horrible. I’d say something awful to you or about you and I’d worry that it hurt you. I have never not cared,” Eduardo says, his voice choked up.

“‘I was your only friend. You had one friend.’ That… bothered me.”

“I was upset. And trying to get a reaction out of you. It was a little overdramatic.”

“A little?”

Eduardo huffs out a little laugh. “Okay, a lot. I knew you had other friends.”

“That’s not why I was bothered, but okay.”

“What?”

Mark just shakes his head.

Eduardo studies him for second, wondering if it’s worth it to pursue it, but Mark’s mouth has that stubborn tilt to it, so he lets it go, for now. “So, why didn’t you tell Chris or Dustin or your mother about the island? And why haven’t you been in touch with them?”

“I didn’t tell Chris because he wouldn’t get it and would think it was stupid, I didn’t tell Dustin because he wouldn’t get it and would want me to throw island parties, and I didn’t tell my mom or any of the rest of my family because they wouldn’t get it and would be worried about me. I did get a satellite phone, but I guess I just didn’t feel like talking to anyone.”

“Mark, you can’t just do that. You can’t cut yourself off from people like that. What if, what if Facebook was hacked or it started to fail or something?”

“Chris and Dustin could handle it. It’s not like they’re new at it.”

“What if, God forbid, someone died?”

“I’d honestly never thought about that. That’s kind of morbid, Eduardo.”

“Yes, but it happens. _You_ could’ve died down here and nobody would’ve known.”

“Well, yes, but what difference would it make if people knew.”

Eduardo shakes his head in disbelief. “Mark, it just does. You know, Chris is half convinced those updates are being sent automatically.”

“Huh, that’s not a bad idea.”

“Mark!”

“What? Oh, yeah, probably not the point you were trying to make.”

“No. Look, could you please call Chris and let him know that you’re alive and tell him…”

“Tell him what?”

Eduardo rolls his eyes at Mark. “I don’t know. Tell him when you’ll be back. Or tell him you’re not coming back at all. Or maybe, hey, your phone number.”

Mark looks at him for a long minute, but he seems to actually be thinking about it, so Eduardo doesn’t say anything even though he feels awkward under Mark’s scrutiny. Finally, Mark sighs and says, “Alright, um, make yourself at home, I’ll be in my office.” Mark heads down a hallway to the right and goes through the second doorway, closing the door behind him.

Eduardo looks around the living room. There’s a really big comfortable-looking couch and a large coffee table in front of a big screen TV. The shelves underneath the TV have a number of game consoles and a DVD player. There are tall shelves against the wall filled with DVDs and games. He finds a remote on the coffee table and powers on the TV. After a few minutes and another couple of remotes, he realizes that there’s no signal. Apparently, Mark got a satellite phone, but no satellite cable. Eduardo doesn’t feel like putting on a movie or playing a game so he decides to explore the place.

There’s a kitchen to the left of the living room, a high counter separating the areas. There’s an open space dining area next to the kitchen with a dining set of a table and four chairs that looks like it’s never been used. There are double doors in the dining area leading to a lanai.

Eduardo heads down the hall to the right. The first doorway is a bathroom. He’s tempted to linger by Mark’s office and see what he can hear, but doesn’t. The next room down the hall is, surprisingly, a library. There are floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books all the way around the room. There’s an overstuffed recliner in one corner and stepladder in another. There’s also a big table with a couple of wooden chairs on the other side of the room. There are a few books stacked on the table. Eduardo looks idly at the titles and sees they’re biographies and autobiographies.

The next room is, well, it’s a guest room. And it would be a pretty nice one, except the bed frame only has a box-spring. At the end of the hall is the master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom. The bedroom is much darker that the rest of the house, with black-out curtains over the windows and dark brown carpeting. And somehow, despite it’s large size, it seems almost cozy.

Eduardo wanders back out to the living room, thinking about how nice Mark’s house is and how it’s nothing like he expected. Although, now he’s wondering why he expected something sleek and modern and sterile and cold. While that’s pretty much how Mark prefers his tech, there’s always been a comfort-seeking part of Mark. Eduardo had always figured that was the reason Mark had stubbornly clung to his hoodies and worn t-shirts, besides his obvious want not to conform to anybody’s standards except his own.

Eduardo settles back on the couch. He’s tired. It’s been a long few weeks. He sort of slides down so his head is on a pillow at the end of the couch. His last thought before he drifts off to sleep is that the couch smells like Mark.

~~~

Eduardo wakes up to some sound he can’t identify. He sits up and looks around, blinking away sleep. Mark is in the kitchen. When he sees Eduardo, he asks, “Want a sandwich?”

Eduardo rubs his face. “Sure. I thought that you were cooking there for a second, I’m so relieved you aren’t.”

“You’re missing out. I do very good toast. And I am excellent at baking frozen pizzas,” Mark says with a smirk.

“Hmm. Did you-“

“I called Chris. I called Dustin. I called my mom. I called your mom.”

Eduardo nearly sprains something, he stands so fast. “You what?”

“Gotcha,” Mark says evenly.

“You son of a bitch.”

“I called everyone I should have.” 

“What did you tell them?” Eduardo asks, curious.

“My phone number. And I told them that I wasn’t sure if I was coming back. Chris yelled a lot and then asked if I was okay. He said he’d deal with it. Dustin freaked out, at first. Then he said that if that was what I needed, he would figure everything out. Then he sent me some more peripherals to work on. My mom said she expects me to visit every once in a while and she wanted to know if I was happy.”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?” Mark asks as he comes over, carrying two plates with sandwiches on them.

“We could eat at the, uh, dining table.”

Mark blinks at him, shrugs and turns around. He puts the plates down on the table in the dining area and goes back into the kitchen. Eduardo goes over and sits down at the table. Mark fetches two bottles of beer from the fridge and opens them. He brings them over and sets one down in front of Eduardo and sits down, taking a drink from his own bottle.

“Are you okay? Are you happy?” asks Eduardo, getting back to his questions.

Mark sits across from him and really seems to consider the questions. “No, but I’m much closer to both than I was three months ago.”

“Oh.”

“How about you, War- Eduardo? Are you happy?”

Eduardo opens his mouth to say that of course he’s happy, but he closes it again. “I don’t think I’ve been truly happy in a long time. Oh, and you can call me Wardo if you want. I’ve kind of missed it.”

“Why aren’t you happy, Wardo?”

“I don’t know. No, that’s not true. It’s because, whatever I do, it’s never going to be good enough.”

“Good enough for what?”

“For whom, actually. For my father. For you.”

“Okay, there’s a lot wrong with that. First, the only person you need to be good enough for is you. Second, you’re father’s kind of a dick. Third, I can be one too, sometimes.”

Eduardo laughs.

“And, okay, maybe I didn’t think you were the best CFO, but you were a really good friend. So good, in fact, that I didn’t think that there was anything I could do that you wouldn’t forgive me for. Which was wrong and kind of stupid of me to think, but it doesn’t change the fact that you were a really good friend.”

“You really thought we could still be friends after the dilution?”

“Right up through the lawsuit, up until- Yes, I thought so.”

“Right up until… ‘I was your only friend. You had one friend.’ That’s why it bothered you?”

“Past tense – ‘was’, ‘had’. I didn’t realize until you said that that we weren’t friends anymore.”

“The lawsuit didn’t clue you in?”

“That was just business,” Mark says with a shrug.

They eat in silence. They finish eating and Mark takes the plates to the kitchen. Mark rinses the plates and puts them in the dishwasher. Eduardo takes his beer into the living room and sits on the couch. Mark sits down next to him with his own bottle.

“Wardo,” Mark asks suddenly, “why did you lend me the money?”

“Because you were my friend,” Eduardo answers, almost automatically.

Mark seems a little disappointed by that. “I came to you because you had the money, yes, but not because you were my friend. I mean, you were my friend, but that just meant you knew me and you knew what I could do. I thought you gave me the money because it was a great idea.”

“Just business.”

“Uh-huh.”

“The thing is, though, I could never separate it out like that. Not with you.”

“Why not with me?”

Eduardo finishes his beer and puts the bottle on the coffee table. “Like I said before, feelings are messy.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Which part?” Eduardo asks with a smile.

“Funny. Okay, what feelings? How are they messy? How messy are they?”

“Friendship, and, and…”

“And?”

Eduardo grabs Mark’s bottle of beer and sets it down on the coffee table and Mark watches, looking confused. Eduardo puts his hands on either side of Mark’s head and pulls him into a kiss. He pulls back, letting his hands drop.

Mark looks stunned. “Oh.”

“Is that a good oh or a bad oh?”

“Yes. I’m- What?”

Eduardo doesn’t think he’s ever seen Mark so disconcerted. He’s a little proud. “Did you like it?”

“I don’t- Maybe you should try again.”

Eduardo takes Mark’s face in his hands and leans forward. He brushes a kiss on Mark’s forehead, on the bridge of his nose, he drops kisses on Mark’s cheekbones, then kisses each corner of his mouth, Mark’s scruff surprisingly soft against his skin. Then he kisses Mark’s mouth, lets his tongue dance over Mark’s lips until he lets Eduardo in. He runs his tongue along Mark’s, licks at it until Mark licks back. He pulls back slowly and looks at Mark.

“Yes,” Mark breathes.

“What?”

“I liked it.”

“Oh, good.”

They end up lying on the couch, trading kisses. Eduardo feels drunk with it. He feels, at once, very powerful and very vulnerable. He’s idly wondering what would’ve happened if they’d done this before, when Mark, seeming to read his mind, pulls back and says, “I’m kind of glad this didn’t happen before.”

“Why?”

“’Cause it would’ve sucked to talk about this in the depositions.”

“You would’ve still done the dilution?”

“Probably.”

“Wow. You know, you don’t always have to be so honest.”

“Do you want me to lie?”

“No, I guess not.”

“You would’ve broken up with me if this had happened before and I diluted your stock, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then, I’m really glad this didn’t happen before.”

“I guess I am, too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know. I forgave you awhile ago, even if I didn’t realize it until a few weeks ago.”

“Well good, because this would really awkward otherwise.”

Eduardo laughs, shaking away the past and the what-ifs, and goes back to kissing Mark. Long, lazy kisses. After a few minutes, Mark pulls back and says, “You should stay here. For a while.”

“Well, I did bring a suitcase – it’s in the boat. And I did rent the boat for a week. And I have been thinking of taking a vacation. And this is a nice island and a really nice house.”

“And I have a really nice bed, too.”

“Hmm, I did notice your guest room was lacking a mattress, so if you’re willing to share that nice bed, maybe I will stay.”

Mark smiles.

“Where is the mattress, anyway?”

“Oh, it’s- Wait, let’s go get your suitcase before the sun sets completely and I’ll show you.”

They go down to Eduardo’s rented boat, grab his suitcase, and bring it up to the house. Then, Mark leads Eduardo around the back of the house and up onto the roof. Mark pulls Eduardo down onto the mattress up there. Mark lies down and Eduardo lies there next to him.

“Are you sure the roof can hold all this weight?” Eduardo asks.

“Yes. Watch,” Mark says, pointing up.

Eduardo looks up and watches as the first stars appear in the clear sky. “Wow. This is…”

“Yeah, it is,” Mark says and reaches between them to twine his fingers around Eduardo’s.

Eduardo smiles.

 

Tiny extra:

Eduardo’s curiosity gets the better the better of him. “Hey, Mark. I, uh, explored the house.”

“I’m shocked. Shocked and dismayed,” Mark says dryly.

“Yeah, yeah. _Anyway_ , I noticed some books on a table in the library.”

“There’s a lot that’s been written about me. I just wondered what other people had had written about them. Some of them were good, but a lot of it felt speculative and sensationalized. So, I thought I’d read what people had written about themselves. I think I like them better.”

“You know, just because they were writing about themselves doesn’t mean they were being truthful.”

“We all have our own truths.”

“Yes, I guess we do.”


	10. Might Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/1522.html?thread=2970354#t2970354): Eduardo/Mark. i just want something where mark and eduardo have to share warmth somehow. maybe they're on holiday trapped somewhere. i don't know. just sharing a blanket, snuggling for warmth, mark pressing his face into eduardo's neck. post-movie preferred because i love that :D

Eduardo kicks the crappy heater in the crappy motel room. It’s only marginally warmer in the room than outside. Eduardo silently curses himself for not accepting his fate and staying in Washington DC, where Chris and Dustin are probably eating a nice dinner back at the Grand Hyatt. 

It had been nice visiting with them when all of their schedules had put them in the same city, even if Chris and Dustin had come with Mark for some Facebook related thing. Not that he’d seen Mark while they were there. But he should never have complained to Chris that he needed to be at that meeting in Las Vegas after hearing about the storm that shut down all the nearby airports. And Chris shouldn’t have texted Mark. And when Mark had texted back that he was driving up to Newark to get a flight and he’d offered Eduardo a ride, Eduardo shouldn’t have accepted. And no one should have believed the weatherman who said the storm was slow-moving and would dissipate before it got much further north.

They’d been on the road for a little over an hour when the storm hit like the wrath of God. There’d been snow and sleet and wind and thunder. He’s still not entirely sure how Mark had managed to avoid hitting or being hit by the dozens of cars slipping and sliding. Knowing Mark, he’d probably just out-thought the panicked reactions of each and every one of the other drivers. They were able to get safely off the highway and into the last room of a motel before the storm had become even worse.

Now, he’s trapped in this stupid motel room with maybe the last person he’d ever want to be trapped with. Well, he’s probably not being fair, after all there’s Christy, his father, Peter in marketing with his stupid jokes that only he laughs at in his loud braying way, Paula, who only ever seems to talk about her pet Chihuahua named Pinto, Kevin Olson, who used to make fun of him in high school, that annoying guy in those commercials… okay, so he would rather be trapped with than Mark than a fair few people.

And actually, it’s not like Mark’s been horrible on this trip. Not that Eduardo exactly expected him to trot out the Top Ten Reasons Eduardo Sucks or anything. As a matter of fact, Mark’s been very quiet during the trip, which Eduardo has appreciated. The silence has been kind of nice and Eduardo hasn’t felt obliged to fill it. But now that he thinks about it – it’s kind of weird that Mark hasn’t said a single word this whole time. It’s not like he’s ignored Eduardo, he’d acknowledged him with a nod when he’d picked him up and he’d shrugged when Eduardo had thanked him for the ride.

Mark’s pretty quiet when he’s coding or focused on something, but when he has something to say or wants to make a point, he does it in his hyper-articulate way. The contrast between the two states can be like aural whiplash. Eduardo turns to look and sees that Mark’s on his laptop right now, but it looks like he’s just checking his email. He studies him for a moment and catches a shiver. Wow, it must be cold in here if Mr.-Walks-Around-in-Shorts-and-Flip-Flops-in-the-Snow is cold.

Mark’s phone buzzes and he looks at the screen and then types something in. A few seconds later his phone buzzes again, he looks at the screen, rolls his eyes, and gets up. He walks over and hands his phone to Eduardo. Eduardo takes it and looks at the screen. It’s a text from Dustin.

_Is Eduardo still alive too?_

He types in:

_This is Eduardo. Yes, Dustin, I am still alive._

Eduardo immediately gets a text back from Dustin.

_How do I know this is really Wardo? It could just be Mark fake-Wardo messaging._

He types in:

_Remember that time in the Kirkland common room? What you did to the microwave? I could go into detail._

He gets a text back:

_Hey, Wardo. No detail necessary. Just checking. Chris says to tell Mark to make sure he takes care of himself._

He’s puzzled by that and a few seconds later another text comes up:

_Sorry, that sounded like he wasn’t worried about you too. Both of you should take care of yourselves and stay out of the storm. Bye._

Eduardo types in:

_We will. Goodbye._

Eduardo looks up at Mark, who is watching him. “Chris says you should make sure to take care of yourself.”

Mark nods and holds his hand out for his phone.

Eduardo holds it away from him. “Why did Chris say you should make sure to take care of yourself?”

Mark says in hoarse voice, “Because I have a cold and Chris is a worrywart. Could I have my phone back?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry,” Eduardo says and hands back the phone. His fingers brush against Mark’s icy ones. “Mark, you’re freezing!”

Mark clears his throat, but his voice is still very rough when he says, “It’s cold in here.”

“Yes, but you usually aren’t.”

“Oh, I don’t know, some people would say I’m always cold,” Mark says and then coughs out a laugh.

“Yeah, funny. Get in bed.”

Mark raises his eyebrows.

“You heard me, get in bed.” Eduardo goes over to one of the beds and pulls down the covers, which are awfully thin.

Mark looks like he’s about to say something, but thinks the better of it. He shrugs and goes over to his lap top and powers it down. He slips off his shoes and dumps his phone on the nightstand. He climbs into bed and Eduardo pulls the covers up over him.

Eduardo goes over to sit on the other bed and watches Mark. He’s curled up into a ball under the covers and it looks like he’s shaking. It’s like, now that Eduardo knows, Mark is just letting himself give in to it. Eduardo watches Mark for a few seconds more before he sighs and gets up. He grabs the covers off his bed and settles them over Mark. He takes off his shoes, belt, and jacket. He sheds his button-down and quickly pulls on a soft Henley shirt that he digs out of his bag. He turns off the lamp on the low dresser, leaving only the light from the small lamp on the nightstand. He goes over and climbs in the other side of Mark’s bed. Mark looks over at him, startled.

“Turn off the light, Mark.”

Mark blinks at him and then reaches over and snaps off the light. He settles back in the bed and shivers again. Eduardo scoots closer to him and then pulls Mark into his arms.

“What are you doing?” Mark asks gruffly.

“Getting you warm. Shut up and be grateful.”

Mark’s tense in his arms, but gradually relaxes. Eduardo pulls him even closer. Mark tucks his face into Eduardo’s neck, the cold tip of his nose making Eduardo give a tiny shiver. It feels strangely good, but a part of Eduardo is upset. He hadn’t known that this was part of what he’d wanted from Mark, that this was part of why he’d felt so betrayed, so jealous. He already has so many could-have-beens wrapped up in Mark, he really didn’t need any more. Mark is never going to be everything that Eduardo wants him to be. He didn’t even tell Eduardo he was sick until he was confronted.

“Mark, why didn’t you want me know you were sick?”

Mark takes such a long time to answer that Eduardo thinks he’s not going to. Mark coughs a little and says, “So I wouldn’t forget.”

“Forget what?” Eduardo asks, confused.

“That you hate me.” 

“I don’t hate you. You’re not making a whole lot of sense.”

“You’re too nice. I knew you’d try to take care of me. And it’s too much. Because I saw it in your eyes at the depositions. I saw you hating me,” Mark says, his voice rough and uneven.

“Okay, yes. During the depositions where I had to drag out pieces of my soul and tell a bunch of lawyers that my best friend cheated me out of my part of the company we started, yes, I hated you. I had to, it was my only defense. I don’t hate you now. I’m still a little angry and hurt, but I don’t hate you.” And it’s weird to be talking like this, so close Eduardo can feel a puff of air every time Mark exhales, but in the dark and unable to look each other in the eyes. Maybe it’s easier like this.

“I wanted to have that company with my best friend,” Mark says softly.

“What?” 

“But my best friend kept saying he didn’t want to have that company with me.”

Eduardo has no idea what Mark is talking about. “What are you talking about?”

“It started at Harvard, but it didn’t really take root until later. Where was it that it took root?”

“I don’t… You mean Palo Alto?”

“The company was in Palo Alto, you were in New York. How many times did I ask you to come out? I told you I needed you and you didn’t come. What was your part in the company?”

“What – I was CFO.”

Mark coughs again. “You provided the financing. Until you didn’t.” 

“You mean freezing the account. I told you, I did that to get your attention.”

“Well, I paid attention. Whatever you wanted to be a part of with me, it wasn’t the company I was building.”

It’s strange, listening to Mark’s hoarse voice recounting events. It doesn’t feel like what Eduardo lived through and he wants to answer back with of his side the story, show Mark his pain and anger, but he’s done that already. So, he pushes that aside and thinks about what Mark has said. And he supposes there’s an element of truth in it. He hadn’t wanted to go to Palo Alto and he’d frozen the account because he hadn’t liked what Mark had been doing. Eduardo had wanted Facebook to fit into a traditional mold, partly because his father tended to be more impressed by that kind of thing. But that had been about the last thing that Mark had wanted, which he’d told Eduardo.

“Okay, maybe it might have seemed like that. It wasn’t. But why did you have to push me out the way you did?” asks Eduardo.

“I was worried.”

“Worried?”

“Thirty percent was a sizeable chunk of the company and the decisions that you were making were wrong for the company. I was worried it was going to become a pitched battle between us and Facebook would suffer because nobody was going to want a piece of something with the two biggest shareholders always at odds.”

Eduardo can imagine that happening, the two of them, both stubborn in their own ways, fighting over how something should be done. “You could have just talked to me. You could have at least tried.”

“Would it have made a difference?”

“I don’t know. I’d like to think so.”

“Maybe I should have tried,” Mark says, his voice all but gone.

Eduardo smiles. It’s not an apology, but it’s something. Eduardo wraps his arms more snugly around Mark. Mark’s arms kind of snake around Eduardo so that Mark is holding him back. Eduardo runs a hand slowly up and down Mark’s back. “I’ve missed you,” he says quietly.

Mark burrows his face into Eduardo’s neck even more. “Me too,” Mark whispers.

It feels wonderful, Mark’s curls against his chin, Mark’s eyelashes fluttering against his skin. Eduardo’s not thinking about the could-have-beens anymore, he’s thinking about what might be.


	11. Make the First Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/1522.html?thread=3253746#t3253746): Eduardo/Mark. Eduardo finds out about Mark's stalker. Eduardo/Mark h/c

Mark pokes at the bandages on his arm. They’ve given him something, so he can’t really feel any pain. Whatever it was, it seems quite a bit stronger than anything he’s ever had before. He sits in the little room and waits and it occurs to him that he should probably call someone, let them know what happened. He should call Chris or Dustin, it doesn’t really matter which one because one will call the other. Maybe he’ll wait until the doctor comes back or the nice resident who was totally flirting with Mark while he stitched him up. It had struck Mark as somewhat inappropriate, which had amused him so he had sort of responded and the guy, Jason, had given Mark his number. Perhaps when he heals up a little, he’ll give Jason a call.

There’s an argument of some sort going on in the hall, muffled by the door. It sounds like four or five people are trying to talk over each other. The sound gets much louder as the door opens and then everyone stops talking as they see him sitting there. There’s a nurse and Chris and Dustin and… Wardo?

It’s pretty cool that he was just thinking about calling Chris and Dustin to come and then they did. He wonders if it will work on anybody else. So he tries to send out thoughts to everyone who doesn’t have a Facebook page to get one, except not all at once, like alphabetically or something. He’ll check and see if it worked later.

“Jesus, Mark, Fred called Dustin and I, said you’d been attacked. Are you okay?” Chris asks.

“Fred! I forgot. He needs, like, a raise or something. He scared the guy off and called the ambulance and the police,” says Mark.

“Well, it is kind of his job since he’s part of security,” says Dustin.

“Hmm.”

“What happened?” asks Chris.

“I was leaving work. He came up to me and I had turned because I heard something, otherwise I think he would’ve got me in the chest. He got my shoulder and then my forearm and then I hit him with my bag. I hope my laptop’s okay. He dropped the knife-“

“ _Knife?_ He had a _knife_?” asks Dustin, looking freaked out.

“Yeah, didn’t I say that? Anyway, then he hit me a few times and then Fred came. It’s the guy with the notes. He said something that sounded like in the notes. I told the police.” And maybe Mark should have listened to Chris about extra security or something. It’s not that the notes hadn’t creeped him out, they had, with their weird mixture of gushing and threats, it’s just that he’d thought that the notes were all that it was.

“God, Mark, I told you this guy was a stalker. I think he’s the one behind all those hang-up calls at the office. I bet he was just waiting for his chance,” Chris says, upset.

“Somebody’s been stalking you?” Wardo asks.

“Guess so. Hey, what are you doing here? I didn’t know you were in town. Did somebody call you?”

“Yes, Mark, somebody called me. Apparently, I’m your emergency contact,” Wardo says.

“Oh yeah.”

“Wait, why is he your emergency contact?” asks Dustin.

“Why not?”

At that, all three give him their what-the-hell-Mark? expressions. He gets those a lot. Back when he was little, he’d thought he was normal, but he quickly came to the realization that he was fairly incomprehensible to people, even people who knew him well. He wonders where the nurse went.

The nurse comes back with the doctor and Jason, the resident. The doctor gives him prescription sheets and an instruction sheet. And she tells him what the prescriptions are and what’s on the instruction sheet. It’s all really redundant, so he pays more attention to Jason, who’s smiling at him.

“Mark!” Wardo barks out.

Mark snaps his head around. Wardo is frowning, but not at Mark, at Jason. “What?”

Wardo doesn’t say anything.

“We should get going,” Chris says after a few seconds.

~~~

After they pick up Mark’s prescriptions, Chris, Dustin, and Wardo have a debate in the car about where to take Mark. Mark tries to give his input, but nobody’s listening to him. He picks at the hospital gown he’s wearing as a shirt, since his own was kind of destroyed. He’s also wearing Wardo’s overcoat, which Wardo had wrapped around Mark once they’d gotten outside. Mark wonders why Wardo’s being so nice to him. He wants to ask, but he’s afraid he’ll ask it wrong or Wardo’ll hear it wrong. So, instead, he lets himself drift. He knows everyone’s worried about him, even Wardo, actually, maybe especially Wardo. They’re all throwing him concerned glances every few seconds, but Wardo, next to him in the backseat, keeps kind of reaching out for him and then pulling back. Mark tries to figure out why. Attention is weird, when you don’t have it, you want it, when you do have it, it’s usually the wrong kind.

Somehow, they come to a decision. Apparently, Mark is going to stay with Wardo because they think that’s the last place they think stalker guy would expect him to go. Strangely, it’s Wardo who was arguing for it. Chris wanted him to go to some kind of safe house with, like, police protection or something. Mark’s pretty sure that Dustin was arguing for an underground bunker. He wonders now if Dustin knows where one is or if he actually thinks Mark already has one somewhere. That’s not a terrible idea, though. Mark bets they have some out here that no one knows about – like that Cold War one for Congress under that hotel in West Virginia, except still secret. Of course, having an actual underground lair will probably reinforce his evil mastermind image. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, really, because a lot of people tend to find that kind of thing sort of cool.

So, Mark’s going to stay in Wardo’s hotel room for the next few days. Chris is going to put some security in a room nearby. They’re going to give Mark a few days to heal and the police a few days to find stalker guy before they decide anything else. Mark’s pretty sure he should object to this, but, honestly, he can’t bring himself to care that much that these decisions are being made for him. He should, though, if only to get the troubled expression off of Dustin’s face when he doesn’t.

“I’m okay, you know,” Mark says to Dustin.

“Sure, you’re always okay,” Dustin replies, but it doesn’t sound like he means it.

“Hey, could you maybe pick up some clothes for me and bring them over tomorrow?”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

“Don’t call me that. And also, don’t mess up my company while I’m not there.”

“ _Our_ company.”

“Fine. I’m serious, though. No putting in that stupid counter thing.”

“How did you know about that?”

“I read your mind… or your email.”

“You-“

“Don’t be stupid, you told Brian about it after that meeting on Monday.”

“You heard that? I thought you were coding something.”

“I was. But I still know what’s going on around me, I just, you know, process it later.”

“Okay, that has got to be the scariest thing I have ever heard,” Dustin says, wide-eyed.

“Why?” asks Mark, confused.

“Nothing. No reason.”

“Oh, wait. Are you talking about all those things you’ve said to me while I was coding? If you thought I wasn’t listening, why did you say anything?”

“Fair point. But sometimes you need to get something out, say it, even if it’s not heard.”

“Huh. Is that what you were doing too, Chris?” Mark asks.

“Umm. Maybe.”

Mark turns to look at Wardo and raises an eyebrow in question.

“Yes, alright. I did it too. I didn’t realize you were listening. And also, I didn’t realize a brain could work that way,” Wardo says.

In a way, Mark is relieved. He’d thought that he just naturally attracted friends who were all about the over-share. 

“Mark, um, I’m sorry and… thanks,” Dustin says.

“What?”

“I’ve said some terrible things to you and told you things you probably didn’t want to know and you didn’t hold them against me and you kept them in confidence. So, sorry and thanks.”

“Okay, but that’s what friends do.”

Dustin gives him a sad sort of smile and says, “Yeah. That’s what good friends do.”

~~~

They slip into the hotel and get Mark up to Wardo’s room without anybody seeing him. Chris and Dustin seem really reluctant to leave, but they finally do, leaving Mark and Wardo alone. Mark hasn’t been alone in a room with Wardo since the dilution. Mark fidgets a little and then gets his laptop out of his bag and checks it. It seems fine and Mark would get on it and start doing stuff, but his hurt arm doesn’t want to cooperate and typing one handed is a pain in the ass. So he powers it down and fishes out his phone.

“I’m going to call my mother. I’m just going to go in here,” Mark says as he gestures to the bathroom. 

Wardo nods.

Mark goes into the bathroom and closes the door. He calls his mother and gives her an abridged version of what happened. It takes a while for him to convince her he’s fine and that she doesn’t need to come out. He also makes her promise to take any news reports with a grain of salt because they always blow things way out of proportion.

When he finishes the call, he takes a minute to think about the attack which he’s been avoiding doing all night. It’s just past midnight and it feels like it’s been days instead of hours since it happened. He had been really scared there. He’s not sure what would have happened if Fred hadn’t come along. There have been people who have disliked him and even people who have wanted to hurt him, but this guy had wanted him dead. He lets Wardo’s overcoat fall free and then carefully pulls off the hospital gown. His arm is starting to hurt and the bruises on his torso from getting hit are sore now. He looks in the mirror and he looks terrible, tired and scared face, dark purple and red bruises along his ribs and abdomen, white bandages on his arm, stark even against his pale skin.

There’s a quick knock and Wardo opens the door, holding some clothes. “Mark, I brought you some-“ He stops when he gets a good look at Mark. He looks horrified.

Mark realizes then that all Wardo’d been able to see earlier were the bandages on his forearm since he’d had the hospital gown on when everybody had shown up. “It looks worse than it is.”

“I brought you some clothes to sleep in,” Wardo says curtly. He sets the clothes down on the counter and leaves, slamming the door behind him.

Mark’s a little taken aback. He changes into the soft drawstring pants that are a an inch or two too long. Both his arm and his bruised chest protest when he tries to pull on the t-shirt, so he leaves it off. He leaves the bathroom and finds Wardo pacing.

“Are you mad at me?”

Wardo looks up and blinks. “What? Why aren’t you wearing the shirt?”

“I, um, I couldn’t get it on.”

Wardo looks at him blankly for a second before he seems to get it. “I didn’t think about that, sorry.”

“It’s okay. Are you angry at me?”

“Not you, not really. Although, you should have listened to Chris and hired more security or something.”

“Then what are you angry about?”

Wardo walks over to him and gently fingers the edge of the bandage on his shoulder. “I’m angry because someone tried to kill you. I’m angry because there are a thousand things that I want to say to you and someone almost took away my chance. I’m angry because I always thought that eventually we’d be friends again and I almost lost that possibility. I’m angry because you were hurt. I’m angry because you were scared. I’m angry because I’m scared. I’m a little angry at myself that I let so much time pass without saying or doing something and you could have died not knowing I still care.”

Mark’s not really sure what to say to all that, but he has to say something. “What things did you want to say to me?”

Wardo smiles a little and lets his hand drop. “So much. Like sometimes you’re an asshole, but I kind of get it now. I understand why you needed Sean or why you thought you needed him, but I never liked him and always thought he was a manipulative son of a bitch. If you had apologized and asked me to forgive you, I would have stopped the lawsuit and been friends with you again – I would’ve made you give me back my shares, but I would’ve stopped the lawsuit. I shouldn’t have frozen the account. I hate that you thought Facebook needed to be free of me. You looked so miserable at the end of the deposition, I almost forgave you then. I wish I’d come out here back then. I felt used by you, sometimes. Facebook is amazing and you should be proud, but I wish you had wanted me beside you, being proud too. You and Chris and Dustin were a better family to me than my own and I have never felt so alone as I did when I was back at Harvard and you all were out here. There’s more, but that should do it for now.”

Mark feels a little overwhelmed by it all. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts and says, “What I did was the right thing for Facebook. But I should have found a different way. I should have made sure you weren’t hurt. I should have been a better friend. For that, I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

“I think maybe I can. Do you think you could ever apologize without all the qualifiers?”

“Doubtful.”

Wardo laughs. “Come on, it’s been a long day, we should get some sleep. Do you need a painkiller?”

“Yes.”

Wardo finds the pill bottles and gets a painkiller, pausing to study the instructions. He grabs a bottled water from the mini-fridge and hands it over, along with a pill. Mark takes the pill and takes a sip of water. Wardo takes the bottle back and puts it back in the fridge. Mark goes over to the king-sized bed and climbs in the right side as the left side’s nightstand has a book and a travel clock on it. Wardo grabs some things out of the dresser and goes into the bathroom. Mark looks up at the ceiling, willing himself to relax. Wardo finishes in the bathroom, hangs up his clothes, and turns out the light, plunging the room into darkness. He climbs into bed.

Mark blinks in the darkness, not really wanting to go to sleep, afraid of what will meet him in his dreams. Also, it’s kind of weird to be sharing a bed with someone again, it’s been awhile. That reminds him, he should call Jason tomorrow or the day after.

“Who’s Jason?” asks Wardo.

Crap, did he say that out loud? What is up with these painkillers? “Um, he’s the resident. From the hospital.”

“The guy you were smiling at.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I didn’t know you liked guys too.”

“Really? You met Peter.”

“Peter? The tall guy, with red hair, in your study group?”

“Yeah. We went out for a couple of months. And then there was Sean.”

“You _had sex_ with Sean?”

“Yeah, once. It wasn’t anything serious. And also, one of the Winklevi.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Well, he was really good-looking and he was nice, when he wasn’t being condescending.”

“And you still screwed him over.”

“I didn’t screw him over. I maybe jerked him and his brother and their friend around a little. I had a better idea that I didn’t want to share with them.”

“So, before, you said that you heard things I told you when you were coding.”

“Yeah.”

“I told you once that I wanted you.”

“You said you wanted to know what it would be like to kiss me, to have all of my focus on you. You said that you wanted all of me.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I said. So, you heard that and you didn’t say anything. You didn’t want _me_.”

“You didn’t do anything. You said that, but you didn’t try to kiss me. I waited. I thought you changed your mind.”

“ _You_ could have done something.”

“I don’t really do that.”

“You don’t… what? Make the first move?”

“Yeah. People say things they don’t mean all the time. But if someone gives me their number without my asking for it, it means they want me to call. If someone kisses me, they want me to kiss them back. If someone puts their hand on my dick, they want to have sex with me.”

Wardo huffs out a laugh. “Okay. I can see how there’s very little room for misinterpreting those things.”

“Yeah.”

Wardo shifts and suddenly he’s there, looming over Mark. Wardo leans down and kisses Mark, carefully. Mark goes rigid with shock for a second and then he relaxes and kisses back. Wardo leans back and then settles down right next to Mark on the bed. Wardo reaches down and gently cups Mark’s cloth-covered dick and says, “Just so you know. We can do something about it when you’ve healed some.” Wardo pulls his hand away, but stays there, close to Mark.

“Okay.” Mark lies there listening to the sound of their breathing for a minute or two. “Wardo?”

“Hmm?”

“I was really scared. That guy really scared me.”

“Yeah, I know. We’ll make sure he doesn’t get to you again.” Wardo strokes the arm closest to him, the uninjured one.

“Even if, even if he’d… I knew you still cared.”

“Good, I’m glad you knew.”

“I just, I want you to know that since we became friends, there’s never been a time I haven’t considered you my best friend. I- I- You mean a lot to me. You should know that.”

“Thank you, Mark. For telling me that. God, if you’d… I never would have known. And I’d never have known that you knew I still cared.”

“Well, no.”

Wardo stops stroking his arm and asks, “What do you mean?”

“There’s a letter. And in my will, I left you almost all of my shares in Facebook, enough to give you fifty-one percent. You would’ve known.”

“That’s simultaneously the sweetest and the most infuriating thing I think you’ve ever done. You’d give me the thing that means the most to you and you’d get the last word.”

“Well, yeah.”


	12. Hundreds of Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=3569734#t3569734): Eduardo/Mark universe switch. Mark and Eduardo wake up in a universe where they've been in a committed relationship since college. They play along until they can get back to their own world, not realizing that they are, in fact, from the same universe.

Mark wakes up one morning and everything feels different. He can’t quite put his finger on why. The house feels different somehow. He looks around, but nothing seems out of place. He shakes his head, trying to shake away the unsettling feeling. He gets up and gets ready and heads into work.

Everything seems the same at work, so Mark starts to relax. Dustin comes in to talk to him about an issue with permissions. He could have sworn he took care of it last week. Maybe he just thought he did. Sometimes that happens.

“Hey, so when is Wardo getting back from his trip?” Dustin asks.

“What?”

~~~

Eduardo wakes up in the wrong hotel room. Or, well, what feels like the wrong hotel room. It’s been a stressful few days, but he’s in a Hilton and not the Marriot he’s sure he fell asleep in. All of his things are in the room, though. And his travel itinerary has this hotel in it. Strange, perhaps he’s been traveling too much.

He showers and dresses. He powers up his laptop and checks his email. There’s an email from Robertson, who he’s supposed to meet with (again) in about an hour and a half. Robertson’s email thanks him for flying out and says that he’s checked the figures from Eduardo’s presentation and he’s satisfied and he sees no reason for a further meeting. Eduardo agrees since he hadn’t been the one who’d wanted the meeting in the first place, but he’s surprised because Robertson had seemed the type that liked to have meetings just to have meetings. Perhaps Eduardo had misjudged him. He emails him back, all agreement and polite platitudes. And suddenly, he has hours free. He checks the itinerary again for flight info and does a double take. Why is he flying to SFO?

His phone rings and he answers, distracted, “Hello.”

“Hello, Eduardo.”

“Mãe?”

“Yes, Eduardo, it is your mother. I am not surprised that you do not recognize my voice. It has been weeks since I have heard from you.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been swamped with work.”

“Yes, well, you work too hard.”

They chat for a few minutes. Eduardo letting himself relax as his mother fondly scolds him for a myriad of things: his work habits, his traveling, his not visiting enough, his weight. He protests the last one because, really, how could she even know, what does he sound thin?

“You are always too thin. You should eat more.”

“I promise I eat enough.”

“Hmm. Well, I must go. You take care of yourself.”

“I will. Love you. Goodbye.”

“Love you, too. Goodbye. Oh, and say hello to Mark for me.”

“What?” he asks, but she’s already disconnected.

~~~

Mark wonders if this is what an aneurysm feels like. This cannot possibly be real, he’s dying and this is the last gasp of his brain trying to create it’s own little world. After Dustin had left the office thinking Mark had been joking with him, Mark had gotten on the internet. He’d found articles and pictures. God, his own Facebook page, _Eduardo’s_ Facebook page. According to everything he can find, Eduardo and he have been together, in a relationship for years. He can’t quite pinpoint when it moved from friends to more, except that it seems to be after Thefacebook went online, but before they came out to Palo Alto.

The more he finds, the more unreal it seems. There was never a falling out and while Sean was there, he wasn’t quite as big a part of it (which actually seems to have worked out a little better for Facebook, not being so closely tied to him). There was no Christy (well, she existed, she was just never Eduardo’s girlfriend, and she even worked for Facebook for a couple of years). They did get sued by the Winklevi and Narendra, but the settlement was actually smaller. Eduardo doesn’t own thirty percent or thirty-four point four percent, but he does own twenty-four percent. So, a dilution, but not the ‘death certificate’.

Mark can’t even code. The site is almost exactly the same, but there are little things that keep tripping him up. Things he’s already done that aren’t, things that he hasn’t done, but was thinking about that are, and tiny things that shouldn’t be. It’s as if, for all the thousands of little decisions that he made, for every hundred he went the same way, there’s one where he went the other way. And it’s not bad, or anything. A lot of those decisions had been pretty close. It’s just that for all that they are decisions that he might have made, he didn’t. Some other Mark did. And he feels like he’s lost his mind for even thinking that.

He gives up after a few hours and tells his assistant he’s going to work from home. Dustin catches him on the way out, saying something crude about welcoming Eduardo back in style. Mark resists the impulse to fire him. Not that it would matter, probably. His Dustin never seems to take any notice of it when Mark does it to him.

~~~

Eduardo almost misses his flight. He’s not even sure he should have taken it. It’s all too weird. He likes science fiction and the theory of multiple universes, parallel or alternate, had always seemed intriguing. Now that he’s living it, though, it’s almost too difficult to fully grasp. He wonders how he switched. He wonders why he switched. He wonders why things happened the way they did here. He wonders if Mark is any different.

~~~

Mark wanders around the house and finds what he’d missed that morning. Eduardo’s clothes in the closet. Actual pots and pans in the kitchen. Extra things in the bathroom. Pictures in the living room, of them, of their families. Another office instead of another guest room.

Mark goes into Eduardo’s office and looks around. He can’t find anything that really tells him about this Eduardo. Instead, he goes into his office and gets on the computer. He looks up every piece of electronic communication he can find from Eduardo. Other than the obviously affectionate tone, they sound much like the Eduardo Mark knows. And, honestly, when they’d been friends, Eduardo had, at times, been sort of affectionate.

~~~

Eduardo takes a deep breath and fits his key in the lock of Mark’s house. His house. The house that he shares with Mark. With a Mark. He opens the door and walks in. He sets down his bag and closes the door. When he turns around, he almost jumps. Mark is there, watching him.

“I thought you’d still be at work.”

“Yeah, I came home early.”

“Why?”

“Umm. Because you were coming home?”

And Eduardo should have guessed that. He thinks he’s making Mark a little nervous. “Oh. That’s nice.”

Mark comes over and hugs him. Eduardo’s taken aback for a second and then hugs him back. Mark pulls back and Eduardo smiles at him.

“Missed you,” says Eduardo, trying for something that he hopes is what he’d usually say. Or what the Eduardo from here would usually say.

“Missed you, too. How did the meetings go?”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“How’s work been?”

“Well, you know, the usual. Dustin’s been a pain.”

“Shocking.”

“Yeah. Did you want to order in tonight?”

“Sure.”

They order dinner. Eduardo feels like he’s walking on eggshells. He’s so awkward in his own skin. And Mark seems to be reacting to it, being tentative and hesitant. Possibly the weirdest thing is that Eduardo doesn’t feel any sort of anger at this Mark. Not that he’d been great at being angry at his Mark. A lot of the anger he’d felt was gone, mostly replaced by a tired numbness, so he’d clung to the last vestiges of anger he could scrape up when he was around Mark because it seemed like the better alternative. This Mark, though, even with how self-conscious Eduardo feels around him, engenders some of the fondness Eduardo felt for Mark back at Harvard, back when they were just students.

Dinner arrives and Eduardo encourages Mark to talk about what he’d done at work. Once Mark gets into the minutia, he seems to relax. He remembers this, how if he was gently prodding, not nagging, Mark would open up and his eyes would light up and he would tell Eduardo what he was doing and make it sound so exciting, even if Eduardo only understood about two-thirds of it. He misses that.

~~~

Eduardo’s in the bathroom getting ready for bed. Mark’s already in bed. He can’t quite figure out how to act. And it feels like Eduardo is responding to that, acting uncertain and seeming a little uncomfortable. It had gotten better there, during dinner. It had felt like being back in college when Eduardo would be focused in on Mark and not mother-henning him, just making Mark feel special. It had been nice. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed it. He wonders if this Eduardo had been able to keep from crossing that line better than his did. He can see something coming out of that, the Mark here wanting to keep that, wanting to feel special like that all the time.

Eduardo steps out of the bathroom wearing pajamas. Mark doesn’t know why it makes him smile, but it does. They’re a solid navy blue with white piping, classic. Mark looks down at his own faded yellow t-shirt and gray sweatpants. They are so different. Eduardo climbs into bed. Mark leans in for a kiss, thinking that it’s probably the right thing to do. But it quickly goes from just a press of lips against lips to something breathtaking. When Eduardo pulls back, Mark stares at him, trying to think of something coherent to say.

“Um, the trip was kind of tiring, so if you wouldn’t mind, could we just go to sleep,” Eduardo says.

“Uh, okay,” Mark says, confused, but relieved. He’d figured he’d let Eduardo take the lead. He’d thought about telling this Eduardo that he wasn’t his Mark, but it just sounds so crazy in his head. Besides, a more rational explanation is that this is his life and everything that he remembers was just a dream or a product of a sleep deprived mind. If someone in a relationship with him said anything like that, it would feel like they were denying the relationship. He doesn’t want to hurt Eduardo like that.

~~~

Eduardo’s freaking out. He has no idea what that kiss was last night. He’s the one who took it from simple to passionate. Then he’d stopped it. And now, he’s on his way to the office with Mark. The apps he’s been developing are for Facebook, which he’d found out yesterday. He hadn’t known that he worked out of the Facebook offices – a relatively recent thing, apparently. He hasn’t figured out why he’s not CFO, though. He’d always assumed that if Mark hadn’t pushed him out of the company, that’s what he’d be doing.

When they get there, Mark walks him to his office. He presses a quick kiss to Eduardo’s cheek and leaves. Eduardo’s assistant goes through all the calls he’s received. She tells him what’s coming up on his calendar and then leaves him alone. Eduardo sits down and gets to work, finding out everything he can about his job. Yesterday, he had been focused on his relationship with Mark. Now, he needs to figure out what is going on with the rest of his life.

~~~

Mark doesn’t really know why he’s behaving the way he is. He’s not usually so physically affectionate. At first, he told himself that that’s what Eduardo would expect. But he doesn’t think it’s that simple. He’s almost sure that it’s _his_ expectations that are at play – that if he were involved with Eduardo, this is how he would expect to act. Except, he never thought of Eduardo that way. Until now. Of course, if there had been something that had made him see Eduardo that way, that would explain a lot. There must have been.

Mark doesn’t know why he can’t remember these things, why everything’s so hard. Maybe the aneurysm thing wasn’t far off. Maybe something happened to his head. And suddenly, that seems like a very real, very scary possibility. He calls his doctor and a jumbled mix of things comes out when he tries to explain it. She listens attentively and asks a few questions. He doesn’t think he makes anything clearer with his answers. She tells him that stress can cause memory problems, but she’ll set up a few tests for the day after tomorrow. He hangs up, feeling a little better.

He solves the permissions thing and it feels like déjà vu. He also finds a bug he’d thought he’d found two days ago. The whole day is like that.

~~~

Mark doesn’t say much on the way home and Eduardo’s quiet himself, nursing a headache. This Eduardo’s whole life seems inextricably tied up in Mark. He supposes that it’s actually not, that it’s tied up in Facebook, but he can’t separate Facebook from Mark in his head. This Eduardo seems happy and no longer concerned about his father’s opinion. Eduardo wants that.

When they get home, Eduardo goes to the kitchen, looks at what they have, and decides to start making dinner. Mark comes in and watches. It’s nothing complicated, but Mark seems appreciative when they sit down to eat.

They watch a movie after dinner. Mark leans against Eduardo on the couch. Eduardo wonders why this Mark is so much more open to touch than his Mark ever was. It feels nice, comforting almost.

~~~

They head up to bed. Mark’s been thinking about ways to jog his memory all night. He’d hoped just being close to Eduardo in familiar surroundings would help, but it didn’t seem to. He’s ready to try something else. When they get up to the bedroom, Mark reaches up and hooks his hands behind Eduardo’s neck and pulls his head down. He kisses Eduardo, goes for broke. He licks his way into Eduardo’s mouth. He explores Eduardo’s mouth with his tongue and Eduardo responds unreservedly. And it’s good, it’s so good, but it’s not familiar.

Mark finds himself pushed down to sit on the bed. He hadn’t even realized they were next to it. And Eduardo’s stripping Mark of his shirt and shedding his own and then Eduardo pushes him down to lie on the bed and then settles on top of Mark. He kisses Mark and then rubs his hips against Mark’s. Mark can feel him, hard in his pants, and can feel himself start to respond. He’s breathing hard and his heart is racing. No matter how much he wants to remember, it feels like this is something that he’s never done and he doesn’t know what to do. Eduardo grinds down and Mark gasps. And Eduardo looks at him and stills.

~~~

Eduardo looks down at Mark, his lips red, his chest heaving and he can’t do this. “I can’t do this,” he says and rolls off Mark, throwing an arm over his eyes.

“Eduardo?”

“I’m not, I’m not your Eduardo. This never happened for us.” He sighs. “You pushed me out of Facebook.”

“And then you sued me.”

Eduardo pulls his arm down and turns to stare at Mark. “Mark?”

“Wardo?”

“Mark, what did you say when I came to Palo Alto, when it was raining?”

“I need you.”

“Oh, I meant-“

“Oh, I said that you’d get left behind.”

“What the hell is going on?”

“I have no idea.”

“And what’s with this, the kissing? If you knew this wasn’t your universe, what were you doing?”

“My universe? What? I thought there was something wrong with me, something wrong with my head. I thought I was making up a whole new set of memories.”

“You did?”

“I made an appointment with my doctor to get tests run.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Excuse me if I thought a, a, a stroke or a brain tumor was more plausible than _another_ universe.”

“Okay, sorry. How did this happen?”

“I think a better question is how do we make it happen again?”

“Switch back, you mean?”

“Yeah, and if we’re here…”

“Are they there?”

They’re both silent for a few minutes. Eduardo lets out a little laugh.

“What?”

“I was thinking, before, how much I liked this Mark.”

“During dinner yesterday, I thought I could see how this could happen.”

Eduardo smiles. “When you would talk like that, I missed that.”

“I missed it when you would listen like that, like I was something special.”

“You were something special. You are something special,” Eduardo says and then nearly cringes. He didn’t mean to say that, at least not out loud.

“Do you mean that?”

He’s going to say something flippant, but Mark has such a vulnerable look in his eyes, he says, “Yes.”

“Thanks.”

Eduardo shrugs.

“Hey, Wardo.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s kind of nice to know that there’s a universe where we didn’t screw it up.”

Eduardo could say a lot of things to that, but he goes with, “Yeah.”

“I wonder how it happened.”

Although Eduardo has an idea, he says, “I don’t know.”

Mark gets up off the bed. “I’m going to go sleep in the guest room.”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Mark leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Eduardo wants to call him back so they can talk some more, but doesn’t. He lies there on the bed, feeling a little cold. Eventually, he drifts off to sleep.

~~~

Mark wakes up and he’s in his bed. Which is weird, since he went to sleep in the guest room. He stumbles out of bed and goes over to the closet. It only holds his clothes. He checks the living room – no pictures. And there’s the other guest room instead of an office. He’s back.

He finds his phone and calls Eduardo.

Eduardo picks up. “Mark?”

“Wardo, this is going to sound really weird, but…”

“Did I just get back from another universe where we were together?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, yes I did.”

“Wardo, it was… nice seeing you again, weird, but nice.”

There’s silence for a few seconds and then Eduardo says softly, “Same here. Goodbye, Mark.”

“Bye.”

Mark disconnects and then makes another call.

“Mark, hey, you okay?” Dustin asks when he picks up.

“Hey, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? Because the last couple of days you’ve been acting sort of weird. And then there’s whatever was going on with you and Eduardo. You want to tell me about that?”

“What about it?”

“Oh, say, like why was he out here? And why was he staying with you?”

“We, uh, were talking some things out.”

“Does that mean you’ve made up? Can I tell Chris?” Dustin asks, sounding excited.

“I wouldn’t necessarily go that far. Things are…better, I think.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“Yeah. Hey, I’m not coming in today.”

“Why not?”

“I’m CEO, bitch.”

Dustin laughs.

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Mark calls up his assistant and tells her he’s not coming in. There’s a knock on his door as he hangs up. He opens the door and Eduardo’s standing there.

~~~

Eduardo walks in. Mark closes the door behind him.

“What are you doing here?”

“Actually, I woke up here, in bed with you. I looked around and realized I was back. I found my bag and my things and got dressed. I called a cab and was on my way to the airport. Then you called and I asked the cab driver to turn around.”

“Why?”

“I’m pretty sure I know how they, the other you and me, got together.”

“How?”

“There was a moment and instead of chickening out, I kissed you. I kissed you until you kissed me back.”

“Which moment?”

“Ah, well, there were hundreds of them. It doesn’t really matter which one.”

“Oh.”

“This is a moment.”

Mark smiles.

Eduardo leans in.


	13. By Any Other Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=3665990#t3665990): Eduardo/Mark. Five endearments Mark hated and the one he didn't mind so much.

1\. There’s a boy and he’s older. Mark doesn’t really like being called _Kitten_. But he likes Jack. So, he deals with it because Jack likes to call him that. Especially after a kiss. _My Kitten._ He asks Jack why once. Jack tells him it’s because he’s young and cute and sometimes it takes his eyes a few seconds to focus on Jack after he looks up from his computer. Jack tells Mark that he almost purrs sometimes and he definitely kneads and when he gets rubbed the wrong way or teased too much, the claws come out. Mark’s mostly okay with it after that. Until the day he catches Jack kissing someone else.

2\. Erica calls him _Babe_ once. He doesn’t know what his expression is like, but she never says it again. His parents used to sing that Sonny and Cher song to each other when he was young and the association is overwhelming.

3\. _Moonbeam_ actually seems particularly apt. It just sounds so hippy-ish, he can’t help but recoil. Of course, it’s Dustin, so that’s like an invitation for him to call Mark that every chance he gets. Fortunately, Dustin’s so drunk, he doesn’t actually remember it the next day. Mark breathes a sigh of relief.

4\. Chris calls him _Pumpkin_ , sometimes. He only does it to point out that he feels a little too much like he’s being pushed into the role of Mark’s mother. Mark cannot stand it, but it serves it’s purpose. Mark hears it and (usually) realizes he’s being too stubborn and (usually) does what Chris is asking him to do.

5\. Sean calls almost everyone by pet names. Early on, Mark just thinks he’s being smooth, creating a kind of familiarity or intimacy. Later, he wonders if Sean just couldn’t be bothered to call up actual names from his memory. He doesn’t usually do it with Mark. But when he calls Mark _Sunshine_ , Mark can tell that he’s high.

1\. It takes two years before they can talk without one or the other of them stalking off. It takes another year after that before Eduardo can look at him without hurt or anger or betrayal in his eyes. It takes three months after that before Mark actually believes that Eduardo’s actually put it all behind him. It takes another three months before Eduardo calls Mark his best friend (Mark never really stopped thinking of Eduardo as his best friend). It takes six months after that before Eduardo kisses him. It takes a second before Mark wonders why they’ve never done this before. It takes three months after that before they move in together. It takes another week before Eduardo calls Mark _Coração_. It takes a minute (and Google Translate) before Mark decides he likes it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coração - heart
> 
> _What's in a name? that which we call a rose  
>  By any other name would smell as sweet,_ Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)


	14. Make Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=3838534#t3838534): Eduardo/Mark, spy!AU. Eduardo is the suave secret agent, and Mark and Dustin are his tech/hacking/home base guys, and Chris is their handler. And Eduardo is kind of ridiculously in love with Mark and Mark is maybe kind of ridiculously in love back but does not know how he's supposed to compete with svelte young women who can handle fire arms and know how to actually express their emotions. Dustin finds all this incredibly amusing and Chris is long suffering. Oh, and obviously Sean is Mark's less than scrupulous contact who helps out occasionally and tries to steal Mark away at every opportunity.

Eduardo is tired. Already today, he’s been shot at, almost hit with a car, chased through a (thank God) no longer in use sewer system, and had to improvise a distraction out of a micro-recorder, a light bulb, a battery, and a binder clip. And he still has to get the intel he came here for. And, and he’s probably going to get an I-told-you-so look from Mark. Mark had said that Coustra’s men would be on him the second he got to San Cristóbal. Dustin had said he should probably listen to Mark. Chris had left it up to Eduardo. Maybe if Mark hadn’t gone to see Sean that morning, Eduardo would’ve been more inclined to give Mark the chance to set up a different meet. As it is, he’ll be lucky if he can keep the mission from exploding into an international incident.

~~~

When he gets back to headquarters, sore and bruised and hours later than he should be, he has the intel or at least some of it. He’s not looking forward to the debrief. He looks around for Mark to get it over with, but he can’t find him.

“He’s not here.”

Eduardo turns around to find Dustin looking at him. “What?”

“Mark. He left right after we got word you had landed safely.”

“Why? And why did Chris let him go?”

“He was angry. And I’m pretty sure Chris let him go because it would be pretty bad for morale for Mark to give you the totally justified dressing down in front of everyone that he would’ve, had he stayed. Also, I’m pretty sure Chris would’ve been included in that dressing down.”

“Look, Dustin, I’m the field agent and I made a judgment call and it was wrong. It happens sometimes.”

“No, no that’s not what happened. I know it, you know it. I don’t think Chris knows it because he doesn’t know how very much you cannot stand Sean. And he trusts you to make these _judgment_ calls. But, swear to God, man, you do something like this again, and I will tell him in the most explicit terms I can.”

Eduardo is taken aback. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Dustin so serious. “Dustin-“

“No, look Sean is Sean. He is what he is and a long time ago he did something for Mark that Mark doesn’t know how to repay. Like it or not, he’s probably always going to have an in with Mark. Now, I’m really good at what I do, one of the best, even. But Mark, Mark is in a class by himself. And Sean knows it. And his company knows it, too. They’re willing to pay Mark _six_ times what he makes here and give him all the recognition he deserves. But he’s _here_ , every day, working long hours, doing things that are only not impossible because he figures out how to get them done. What does that tell you?”

“I don’t-“

“It tells me that he wants to be here. Even when you and Chris are expecting him to do something that literally no else can do and what he hears from you is: Can you do it faster?”

“Dustin, I didn’t mean to devalue his work. I wasn’t trying to jeopardize the mission. I genuinely thought I could handle it. I should have listened to Mark. I do appreciate everything both of you do.”

“Yeah, well. It’s just, Mark is my friend. What I said about Sean and what he did for Mark, Mark did that for me, times, like, a thousand. He’s not easy, but he wouldn’t be Mark if he was,” Dustin says with a shrug. “Anyway, man, I’m glad you’re back and in one piece.”

“Thanks. Hey, Dustin, Sean’s company, did they ever offer you a job?”

“Yeah, at about three times this pay. But, I like it here too. There’s Chris… and you. Though, if Mark went, hmm, well, I would probably follow.” Dustin walks off with a two-fingered salute.

Eduardo stares after him for a second and then goes to find Chris.

~~~

The next morning, Mark is in his office. He’s doing something on about three different computers and there are two others cycling through numbers behind him. He looks up when Eduardo comes in, but doesn’t say anything. Mark looks back down and types something.

“So, you were right,” Eduardo says.

“Hmm.”

“They were waiting for me.”

“I heard Agent Cantwell helped you out.”

“Alice? Yes. She was able to get me out of the area and on a plane.” Eduardo had been lucky she was in the area and able to get to him.

“She’s really good at close combat.”

“Yes, yes she is,” Eduardo says, a little confused as to why they’re talking about this and not about the disaster the mission had become.

“Huh. We’re up for another mission. In cooperation with another agency.”

“We are?”

“Apparently, even though the last mission didn’t go to plan, you got enough intel that Assistant Director Kenwright thinks you know what you’re doing.”

“I did? I thought the data was corrupted.”

Chris pops his head in. “Eduardo, I need to brief you.”

Eduardo says goodbye to Mark and gets a grunt in return he follows Chris to his office. “So, what is this about a new mission?”

“Mark came in early this morning and did something with some algorithm he wrote that was able to capture some of the data. Anyway, he got enough out of it that the last mission is now being called a success, despite the… issues you encountered. So, now, Kenwright thinks you’re golden.”

“But, if we’d waited for another opening, we’d have probably got all of the intel.”

“You know that and I know that. Kenwright…”

“Kenwright’s an idiot.”

“No, not really. It’s just been a really long time since he was a field agent. They took bigger risks for the possibility of reward because they didn’t have the luxury of information that we do.”

“Maybe.”

“Anyway, we’ll be working with Agent Ritter on this one.”

“Oh.”

“I thought you liked working with her. You two handled the Garisek case well.”

“It’s fine. She just rubs Mark the wrong way.”

“Most people rub Mark the wrong way.”

“Well, yes. But there’s something in particular about her that annoys him.”

“And you have no idea what that is?”

And the way Chris asks it makes Eduardo wonder. “I don’t. Do you?”

Chris studies him for a second and says, “I- No, and as long as it doesn’t affect the mission I don’t care.” Then he gets down to business and outlines the mission.

~~~

Later, Eduardo finds Dustin, who seems to have reverted back to his usual happy-go-lucky self. He’s bopping around near the coffee machine, apparently to music in his own head.

“Hey, Dustin.”

“Hey, Super Spy Saverin.”

“You seem happy.”

“It’s great to be alive.”

Eduardo smiles. “Yes, it is.”

“Hey, I heard there’s a new mission.”

“Yes, and it’s cartels and terrorists and secret government organizations.”

“Oh my.”

“We’ll be working with Agent Ritter.”

“Agent Ritter, the one who has, like, no concept of personal space around you? The one who rocked that tiny red dress? The one who used the rocket launcher?”

“She’s just being friendly. And the dress wasn’t that tiny. And yes, yes she did.”

“Has anyone told Mark yet? And can I be there when they do?”

“I think he already knows. Do you know why Agent Ritter annoys him so much?”

Dustin laughs a little. “Oh, gee, I wonder,” he says sarcastically.

“Dustin, if you know, could you tell me?”

“Seriously, you seriously don’t know?”

“What?”

“Oh my God, how are you a spy?”

“Hey!”

Dustin sighs. “Anyway, maybe we should get Cameron up here to help Mark out if it’s going to be big.”

“Winklevoss?” Eduardo asks sourly. He doesn’t know why the idea makes him cringe inside. Cameron’s a nice guy, one who genuinely seems to like and admire Mark.

“That’s the one.”

“I don’t think we’ll need him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why are you looking at me that way?”

“No reason, Secret Agent Man, no reason.”

~~~

It turns out that this is just not a good week for Eduardo. The only way the mission can go forward is if they bring someone with a whole lot of technical savvy with them in the field. Agent Ritter argues for Mark. While Mark is annoyed by her, he seems to amuse her with his sarcastic asides and biting retorts. But she also respects his work, which is probably the only reason Mark never lets his verbal jabs go too far with her. Dustin, Chris, and Eduardo all say no. Unfortunately, Kenwright has final say and he says Mark goes.

So, Mark is going and Dustin’s not speaking to Eduardo or Chris. Mark takes the news with his usual stoicism. Eduardo can see the nervousness hiding underneath it, though. He doesn’t exactly blame Dustin.

~~~

It’s insane from the word go. They’re not the only government to have sent agents. It’s a race against time and once they get Mark to where he needs to be, it all rests on him. It seems like someone was expecting them or someone else because there’s firewall after firewall after firewall. Mark goes into this mode of intense concentration and gets through everything. He’s able to get everything he needs and they get out with several teams converging on their position, only seconds behind them. 

Then they have to make their way out of the country, which is a lot harder than anticipated. They end up in a gunfight and Mark nearly gets taken. They make it out with a little bit of luck, an improvised distraction, and, strangely, a scathing diatribe by Mark that gets them through a checkpoint. By the time they’re back on US soil, Mark’s on much friendlier terms with Agent Ritter, actually smiling and calling her Amelia. Eduardo suddenly sees what Dustin was talking about in regards to personal space.

The team debriefing takes a good bit of time. Then Eduardo is pulled into a meeting with Kenwright and a couple of upper level people, the purpose of which appears to be to congratulate themselves. By the time they’re done, Mark has left. Eduardo stays a few minutes more to talk to Chris about finding a way to make sure that Mark and Dustin don’t have to go out into the field.

~~~

Eduardo goes to Mark’s place, but Mark isn’t home. He sits in his car and waits for almost an hour before giving up. When he gets to his place, something feels wrong. He unlocks the door and draws his gun. He punches into the code for the alarm system, eyes sweeping the hall. He walks quietly down to the living room, gun out. There’s someone lying on the couch. He points his gun at them and flicks on the light. It’s Mark, and he’s asleep. Eduardo blows out a breath and holsters his weapon. He walks over and nudges Mark’s shoulder.

Mark blinks awake and says, “Wardo.” He sits up.

“Mark. How did you get in here?” Eduardo asks as he sits down next to Mark.

“Key in the planter. Code, the day you made field agent.”

“How did you know?”

“I guessed.”

“And you thought waiting in the dark for an armed agent was a good idea.”

“I was waiting outside, but you were taking forever.”

“I stopped by your place and waited for you for a while.”

“Oh.”

“Why were you waiting for me?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“I wanted to talk to you, too.”

“What about?”

“You first.”

“Why didn’t you listen to me?”

“I d- Oh, about San Cristóbal. I told you, you were right. I should have listened to you,” Eduardo says apologetically.

“I know I was right. Now, I want to know why you didn’t listen.”

“I was angry. You’d been off with Sean,” Eduardo says with a grimace.

“You know I always double check any information I’m given. Anyway, the information I had wasn’t from Sean.”

“No, I know. You always just go when he calls. And he’s always trying to steal you away. And one day you might go. None of our other sources indicated there would be a problem. I guess I was trying to prove that I could do it without you if I needed to. I thought I could handle it.”

“That’s a stupid reason to almost get yourself killed,” Mark says without inflection.

“Yes, it is. I’ll try not to do it again.”

“Try very hard.” Mark looks at him with a pensive expression and then says, “I’m not planning on leaving. I like where I work.”

“Good.”

“So, what did _you_ want to talk about?”

“Why didn’t you like Agent Ritter?”

“Amelia’s okay.”

“That’s not what you would’ve said before the mission.”

“I didn’t really know her.”

“And that’s the only reason?”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell me the other reasons?”

“No.”

“Dustin seemed to think I should have figured it out.”

“Huh.”

“Dustin said something about how she was in my personal space.”

“Did he?”

“Yeah, and then he brought up…” Eduardo trails off as what Dustin had been trying to get him to realize reveals itself to him. He feels so stupid. Maybe he _shouldn’t_ be an agent.

“Brought up?”

“Were you jealous of her?”

“What?”

“Jealous. Were you jealous of Agent Ritter?”

“I- I…”

“Because I don’t like Sean. And I don’t want Winklevoss around. And it annoyed me when _Amelia_ was all over you.”

“Cameron? Oh. Oh.”

Eduardo reaches up a hand and cups the side of Mark’s face. “Tell me to stop if you don’t want this.” He leans in.

Eduardo’s lips are a breath away from Mark’s when Mark says, “Stop. I can’t. I can’t.”

Eduardo stills and then pulls back, his hand dropping. He can’t believe he got it so wrong.

Mark’s up and off the couch.

“Mark, wait.”

Mark heads down the hall and Eduardo gets up and follows. Mark gets to the front door and opens it.

“Mark.”

Mark looks back and says, “We can’t.” And he walks out, closing the door behind him.

Eduardo stares at the door. That ‘we can’t’ didn’t sound like Mark didn’t want this. It sounded like maybe Mark did, but something was stopping him. Maybe he’s worried that if someone found out, one of them would be transferred off the team. Maybe he’s worried it won’t last. Maybe he’s scared. And none of those reasons are trivial. Eduardo paces for a couple of minutes, thinking about it. Whatever it is, he decides, they can figure it out.

Eduardo goes to the door, ready to chase after Mark. He opens the door only to find that Mark’s still on the doorstep. Mark looks as startled as Eduardo feels. Eduardo shakes it off and grabs Mark by the wrist and pulls him back inside. He closes the door and looks at Mark.

“Whatever the problem is, we can work it out. I want this. Us. Together. I want it and I think you do, too,” Eduardo says.

“I’m not… good at relationships.”

“That’s-“

“What if you get angry and you won’t listen to me? What if you walk into a dangerous situation because I didn’t squeeze the toothpaste right?”

“You know, it’s never really about the toothpaste.”

“Wardo.”

“I can’t promise to never not listen, but I’ll try. I’ll try. And if I’m ever being stupid or stubborn, make me. Make me listen.”

“Wardo,” Mark says a little plaintively.

“No. I know it’s putting a lot of responsibility on you and I shouldn’t, but I’m not perfect and I know my own faults. You are the smartest person I know. I know that if you put your mind to it, you can move mountains. So do it. Move me, if you have to. _Make_ me listen.”

“I…” Mark pauses for a long moment and then says, “Okay.”

Eduardo lets go of Mark’s wrist and reaches for him, hands framing Mark’s face. He leans in, his face inches from Mark’s and says, “Please. Please.”

“Don’t stop.”

Eduardo can’t help smiling. He brushes his lips gently over Mark’s. And Mark kisses back.


	15. Expect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=3633222#t3633222): Eduardo/Mark. Sex-Pollen. Mark is exposed to a strange substance at some college party, and the first person his eyes lays upon on will be the object of his sexual needs; that person just happens to be his best friend.

Eduardo loses track of Mark after about half an hour at the party. Mark usually finds a corner to inhabit. It kind of works out – only people really determined to talk to Mark, do. And you need to be really determined to talk to Mark to actually talk to Mark. Eduardo tires of the party rather quickly. He goes to find Mark and he can’t. He’s a little worried because Mark’s pretty good about letting Eduardo know if he’s leaving. Usually, Eduardo ends up leaving with him.

Eduardo searches the entire house. He finally finds Mark in the bathroom. He’s sitting, fully clothed, in an empty bathtub. He has his eyes closed and his fingers on the tub ledge are twitching, like he’s typing something out.

“Mark?”

“Wardo,” Mark says and slowly opens his eyes.

“You okay?”

“Mmm.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“We should go.”

“Okay.”

Mark climbs out of the tub. He stares at Eduardo under a lowered brow until Eduardo has the urge to squirm.

“What?” Eduardo asks.

“What what?”

“Never mind. Let’s go.”

They make their way back to the dorm. Mark’s not stumbling or anything that might indicate he’s drunk, but Eduardo catches him just watching Eduardo several times. By the time they get back to Mark’s suite, Eduardo’s jumpy. He’s not at all used to Mark’s full and focused attention, even if he’s occasionally wished for it.

Once Mark closes the door behind them, Eduardo asks, “Do I have something on my face?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t- Mark, why do you keep staring at me?”

Mark lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug. “You’re pretty good-looking, Wardo. You must be used to people looking at you.”

Eduardo feel eyebrows rise with his shock. “I- What? Since when did you notice how I look?”

“Just because I don’t say anything doesn’t mean I don’t notice.”

“I didn’t know you, um, were attracted to guys.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“I, uh, well, I…”

Mark tilts his head and gives him a small smile. Something about him suddenly strikes Eduardo as predatory. “Did you want to know, Wardo? I know about you.”

“W- what?”

“I told you, I notice. I’ve seen the way you look at girls… and guys. Sometimes, you look at me.”

“You-“ Eduardo stops, swallows. He feels boxed in, which is ridiculous. He nearer to the door and Mark hasn’t moved any closer.

“You like to look, don’t you, Wardo? Do you like to watch?”

Eduardo’s never seen Mark like this. He’s seen him sharp and concentrated, but now it’s all about…. seduction. It’s as if he’s weaving a spell with his words. Eduardo closes his eyes and takes a bracing breath. He opens his eyes.

“It’s kind of hot in here,” Mark says. And he yanks his hoodie off and his shirt with it.

“Mark,” Eduardo croaks out.

“I bet you do like to watch. Do you want to watch me?” Mark asks, staring at Eduardo. Mark runs a hand down his chest to his waistband.

Eduardo’s frozen. It shouldn’t be as tempting as it is.

Mark kicks off his flip flops and then goes to his bedroom, throwing a look over his shoulder to Eduardo.

Eduardo goes to follow him, almost automatically. He stops. He should leave, but, God, he wants to go in that room. He debates with himself for a few seconds. He turns to leave, but he can’t help himself. He walks slowly into Mark’s bedroom, looking at the floor, and he closes the door carefully behind him before turning around and looking up.

Mark’s on the bed, naked. He’s idly running a finger up and down his hard dick as he stares at Eduardo. Eduardo swallows hard. Mark brings his hand up and licks his palm. He wraps his hand around his dick. Eduardo follows Mark’s hand with his eyes. Eduardo flicks his gaze up to meet Mark’s when Mark doesn’t move his hand. It feels like Mark’s more interested Eduardo’s reactions than anything else.

“Come here,” Mark commands.

Eduardo startles at the sound of Mark’s voice. He crosses the room to stand by the bed.

“You should take your clothes off,” Mark says.

Eduardo shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over Mark’s desk chair. He reaches up and undoes the buttons on his shirt. Mark is watching intently. Eduardo pulls his shirt off and puts it on the chair. He slips off his shoes. He sits on the bed to pull his socks off. Mark runs a finger up his back and Eduardo shivers. Eduardo stands up again and unbuckles his belt. He pulls his belt free of the loops and drops on the chair. He undoes his pants and pulls them and his underwear off. He places them on the chair.

Eduardo goes back over to the bed. He puts a knee on the bed and reaches a hand out to touch Mark and Mark goes wild. He reaches up and pulls Eduardo down. He licks and bites at Eduardo’s mouth while his hands clutch at Eduardo’s shoulders. Eduardo’s stunned for a few seconds and then starts kissing Mark, trying to slow him down, make it little more gentle. Mark seems almost desperate, arching up underneath Eduardo, heat pouring off him.

Mark’s breaks his mouth away and moves it to Eduardo’s ear. “You should fuck me now. I want you inside me. Now,” Mark whispers roughly. The words are a demand, but Eduardo hears the plea in them.

“I- Okay.” Eduardo pushes two fingers into Mark’s mouth and Mark sucks at them eagerly. Once they’re wet enough, he pulls them free with a slight pop. He reaches down and pushes one into Mark. Mark’s tight, really tight.

“More,” Mark says.

Eduardo pushes another finger in and Mark writhes. Eduardo angles his fingers a little and Mark arches up.

“Now, now,” Mark says.

Eduardo scissors his fingers, trying to loosen Mark up more. He doesn’t want to hurt him. “Do you have any lube or anything?”

“Now, Wardo, now.”

“Mark, I need some lube.”

Mark points toward a drawer. Eduardo pulls his fingers free to a groan from Mark. Eduardo gets up and finds a bottle and some condoms in the drawer. He takes the bottle and a condom back to the bed. He goes to slick up his fingers. 

Mark puts a hand on his wrist. “Please.”

Eduardo tears open the condom and rolls it on, then slicks himself up. He gets himself positioned, one of Mark’s legs over his arm. He pushes in as smoothly as he can. Mark breathes in sharply and his eyes flutter closed. He’s so tight and so hot around Eduardo. Eduardo stays there a few seconds, wanting to move, but waiting for Mark.

Mark opens his eyes. “Go.”

Eduardo does.

“Harder,” Mark says.

Eduardo pounds into Mark. Mark scratches at the sheets beside him and bites at his lip. Eduardo reaches between them and grabs hold of Mark’s dick. Mark lets out a stifled moan and comes, clenching down around Eduardo, setting off Eduardo’s own climax. Everything sort of whites out for a few seconds. When Eduardo is able to move again, he pulls gingerly free of Mark. Mark makes a small hurt noise.

“Are you okay?” Eduardo asks.

“Better.”

It’s kind of a weird answer, but Eduardo will take it. He tosses the condom in the trash and flops down beside Mark. 

He must fall asleep because the next thing he knows, Mark’s whispering in his ear, “Again, Wardo.”

Eduardo blinks open his eyes and finds Mark on his knees fingering himself. “What?”

“I need, I want, again.” Mark gasps at something, maybe something his fingers are doing.

Eduardo’s hard again, just like that. Eduardo stumbles up and gets another condom. He gets back on the bed and Mark pushes him flat. He takes the condom, tears it open, and rolls it on. Eduardo makes a grab for the lube and slicks himself up again while Mark watches impatiently. Mark climbs on Eduardo and lowers himself down on Eduardo’s dick. He pushes himself down fast onto Eduardo. His head falls back and he begins to lift himself up and slam himself down. It’s rough and raw and so, so good. Eduardo tries to help, thrusting up as Mark pushes down. It only takes a few minutes before they both come again.

It happens one more time. Mark on his hands and knees, almost begging Eduardo. Mark’s hole is red and he must be sore, but he still seems to want this so much. Eduardo pushes in again, trying to keep up with Mark’s litany of, “Harder, Wardo, harder.”

This time, Mark finally seems to exhaust himself and falls asleep before Eduardo can discard his condom. Eduardo pulls the covers up and slides into bed next to Mark, completely worn out.

~~~

Eduardo wakes up before Mark and gets dressed. Mark doesn’t seem like he’s going to wake up any time soon, so Eduardo runs back to his own room to shower and change. He goes to a little coffee shop close to campus and gets coffee and a bagel for Mark and a muffin for him.

When he gets back to Mark’s room, it looks like Mark has just woken up. He’s still in bed, but he’s sitting up. He’s got the same sort of marks on his chest Eduardo found on his own body earlier – bites, scratches Eduardo doesn’t remember giving him, and a couple of small bruises. Only it looks much worse on Mark’s pale skin. There’s probably more hidden underneath the sheet. Mark rubs at his eyes.

Eduardo puts everything down on Mark’s desk. He grabs Mark’s coffee and holds it out to him. “I got you coffee and a bagel.”

Mark takes the coffee and says, “I’m not really hungry.”

“I’ll just leave it here, you can eat it later.”

They drink their coffee. Mark doesn’t say anything and Eduardo’s not sure what to say.

After a couple minutes of silence, a question occurs to Eduardo. “Mark, why were you sitting in a bathtub when I found you last night?”

“I was really hot and kind of, I don’t know… tingly or something. The tub was nice and cool.”

“Tingly?”

“Yeah, somebody gave me something to drink last night. There was something in it or something. Made me feel weird.”

“What?” Eduardo nearly shouts. He lowers his voice at Mark’s glare. “Somebody drugged you? And you, and we- Oh, God.”

“Jeez, calm down.”

“Calm down? Somebody drugged you. That means I-“

“It doesn’t mean anything.”

“How can you say that, Mark? It was-“

“It was what I say it was,” Mark raps out sharply. Then he sighs and says, “I don’t know why it’s such a big deal. It’s not like I didn’t want it before.”

“If you really wanted it, then why didn’t you do anything before.”

“You didn’t do anything, either. I figured friendship must be more important. Besides, when you sleep with someone, they _expect_ things.”

Eduardo almost cracks a smile at how Mark makes ‘expect’ sound like a dirty word. He’s not wrong. Being friends with Mark is important to Eduardo and he probably would expect more from Mark if they were sleeping together. 

“Mark?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you always like that?”

“Like what?”

“With the talking and the, um…” Eduardo trails off, not sure how to describe it.

“I’ve been told I can be very intense. But the only way to know it for sure would be extensive trials.”

“Oh, um-“

“Let me know if you want to… try,” Mark says with a smile no less predatory than the one last night.

~~~

Eduardo never does tell Mark that he wants to try. Not because he doesn’t want to. But because he’s not sure if Mark’s just trying to prove something. And also because he doesn’t want to _expect_ anything.

Years later, years after the dilution and the lawsuits, when Eduardo finally gets some time and distance from the hurt and anger, he wonders if that had anything to do with it. He’d always maintained a careful distance between them after that night. It wasn’t much, but it was there, and even if Mark didn’t say anything, Eduardo’s sure he noticed.

Mark should never have pushed Eduardo out the way he did. Now, Eduardo thinks it had very little to do with Eduardo being punched by a finals club. It was a factor, but a lot of other things were going on. Eduardo can look back and see all the missteps he made that contributed to the whole mess. He can see that the careful way he’d treated Mark, the way he’d tried to take care of him, must have annoyed him.

Eduardo almost calls or emails Mark, but it doesn’t feel right. And as detached as Mark can be, Eduardo could always read something in his eyes, when he tried. So, he clears his schedule for a few days and flies from New York to California. He gets there pretty late and he doesn’t want to wait. Now that he’s made the decision, he wants to see Mark.

Eduardo goes to the Facebook headquarters and convinces security to escort him to Mark’s office. Mark looks up at the knock on the door. He looks surprised, but doesn’t say anything.

The security guard with Eduardo says, “Mark, Mr. Saverin insisted he needed to see you.”

“Thanks, Carl. It’s fine.”

“Okay,” Carl says and leaves the two of them alone.

And they are alone, no one else is still there working.

“So, Eduardo, long time, no see,” Mark says with no particular inflection.

“Yeah.”

Mark sits up straighter and pulls his laptop a little closer. “You’re not here to break anything, are you?”

“No.”

Mark gives him a little smirk. “Are you here to be friends again?” he asks sarcastically.

“Yes, actually I am.”

Mark looks stunned. “What?”

“And also I, um, wanted to let you know that I wanted to, um, try.”

Mark tilts his head in confusion. Eduardo can see it in his eyes the second he gets it.

“Oh,” Mark breathes out.

“I want it all and I decided I may as well go all in. I do warn you, however, that I will expect things.”

“What if only one of those is on offer?”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

“I can’t promise not to be… me.”

“I came here knowing that.”

“You have to be sure, Wardo. I can’t, I can’t…”

“Can’t what?”

“Lose you again.”

“I don’t think you’re actually legally able to dilute my shares again.”

“I lost you way before that.”

“Yeah. Wait, does this mean you want- Which one’s on offer now? Because I’m a little confused.”

“Both. I just wanted to know which one you wanted more.”

“You make everything so fucking difficult.”

Mark shrugs.

“You. I want you, whatever way I can get you.”

“And you… don’t need an apology, first?”

“I would like an acknowledgement that you made mistakes, like I did, and that you regret them, like I do.”

“Done.”

Eduardo raises his eyebrows.

Mark sighs. “I made mistakes, which I regret.”

“Okay. So, I have a few days off. Maybe we can go to your place and talk.”

“Can we have sex first and then talk?”

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

“So you come in here and tell me you want to and then say we should go back to my place. And the first thing you want to do when we get there is _talk_?”

“Hmm, you know it sounded very sensible in my head, but when you put it like that, it does sound rather stupid. So, yes, let’s go with your plan.”

“You know, if my office didn’t have glass walls and everything wasn’t open plan…”

“Bathroom?”

“Security does a sweep in about eight minutes.”

They look at each other consideringly for a second and then shake their heads.

Mark powers down his laptop and gathers his stuff. They head out. Eduardo, in his rental car, follows Mark home. They get inside the front hall and Mark closes the door. Eduardo drops his luggage and pushes Mark against the wall, kissing him. Eduardo kisses him until they’re both breathless.

“I think I’m going to expect things, too,” Mark says, panting.

Eduardo smiles. “Good.”


	16. What You Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=4360774#t4360774): Eduardo/Mark, pretend!marriage. Mark somehow accidentally said he was married. While talking to a big time investor/reporter/something. Even though he KNOWS Eduardo is mad at him and (apparently) hates his guts, he's the only one he can call for help.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Wardo.”

“Mark?”

“Yeah.”

Eduardo is completely confused. He hasn’t talked, really talked to Mark in years. Why would he be calling now? It’s not that they’re not talking. They do run in fairly similar circles and Eduardo does own some of Facebook, enough to be concerned with it’s performance. But they don’t have any real sort of contact, not really.

Eduardo had made a point of being coldly civil to Mark whenever they met. The first time, when there had been a flash of hurt in Mark’s eyes, Eduardo had felt a sense of satisfaction. Then he’d felt a little sick – he’d wanted to impress his father, not _be_ his father. The next time, he’d tried to just avoid Mark, but couldn’t help himself when he’d run into him. There hadn’t been any hurt that time – Mark’s face had been completely blank, Eduardo couldn’t read him at all. It had infuriated Eduardo, even if he hadn’t let it show. Mark shouldn’t have been able to do that, not to him. So, Eduardo had somehow become locked into this way of interacting with Mark.

When Mark doesn’t say anything else, Eduardo panics a little, horrible things running through his head. Someone’s dead, someone’s sick, Mark’s sick. “What’s wrong?” Eduardo asks in a much softer tone than he’s used with Mark in years.

“Nothing. Well, no, actually, that’s not entirely true.”

“Is someone sick?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that.”

Eduardo lets out a breath. “Mark, I don’t really have time-“

“It’s Facebook.”

Eduardo sighs a little. It does concern Eduardo, as shareholder, if something’s wrong. Even if part of him resents how important to Mark Facebook is. And Mark sounds worried. “What is it?”

“I- I did something really stupid, Wardo.”

Eduardo’s flabbergasted. Mark doesn’t just say things like that. It must be something big. But Eduardo can’t quite stop himself from saying, “Don’t call me that.”

“Fine. Eduardo, then. I need your help.”

“My help?”

“There’s this big investor. He’s not only invested in us, but in a lot of our affiliates. He could make a lot of trouble for Facebook, if he tried.”

“And you, um, what? Want me to talk to him?”

“No, well, kind of. Look, Chris said that I had to keep him happy. And I tried.”

“Chris thought _you_ could keep him happy?”

“I know. I tried to tell him. But the guy, Bobby Worthing, wanted to deal with me.”

Eduardo knows that name. Worthing’s into a lot of things and he can see why Chris would want him happy. “So, what happened?”

“I ended up telling him I was married.”

“ _What?_ ” Eduardo has a hard time getting out even the one word. _Married? Mark?_

“To you.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Yeah, War- Eduardo. I’m sorry. It just kind of happened.”

“Oh, _that_ you’ll apologize for.”

“Yes, well, _that_ is something I did wrong.”

Eduardo almost hangs up on him right then. It takes a few seconds to get himself under control, he’s so angry. He says through clenched teeth, “Why did you do it?”

“Does it really matter? 

“Okay, then, why me?”

“Well, I said I was married. And then I had to come up with a reason why the public wouldn’t know.”

“You couldn’t just say it was some random guy? You don’t think he would understand hiding a gay marriage from possibly homophobic investors and users?”

“Does that strike you as something I would do?”

Actually, no, Eduardo’s pretty sure Mark wouldn’t care what people thought. “No, I guess not.”

“Which he knew. So, I needed someone I wouldn’t necessarily tell the world about.”

“Necessarily?”

“If I married you, I wouldn’t care who knew. But Worthing doesn’t know that.”

Eduardo doesn’t quite know what to say to that. “So, what do you need from me?”

“Worthing invited us for the holiday weekend to his place. He made sure to mention exactly how discreet he can be and how insulted he would be if I didn’t show up and bring you along.”

“Mark, you must have lost your mind if you think I would voluntarily spend that much time pretending to be married to you.”

“I didn’t expect it would be voluntary. I’m prepared to offer you a lot to do it.”

“Paying me to pretend to be married to you? That sounds like it could be the premise of a corny romantic comedy.”

“It doesn’t have to be money.”

“So, then, what, pray tell, would you be prepared to give me?”

“What do you want?”

Hmm, what an interesting question. What does he want? What does he want from _Mark_? Eduardo’s silent as he contemplates it.

“War- Eduardo, please.”

“I want an apology.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh no, it’s not that easy. I want a real apology, one that you mean, for everything that you did to me. At a time and place of my choosing – which may be someplace very, very public.”

Now it’s Mark turn to be quiet for a while.

“Mark?”

“Okay.”

Eduardo hadn’t really expected Mark to agree to that. He’d thought Mark would try to bargain him down or offer something else. Then he could have turned him down in good conscience. “Okay,” Eduardo says slowly, wondering why this is so important to Mark.

“I’ll email you the details.”

“Okay.”

~~~

Eduardo has second and third and fourth thoughts. He almost asks the driver to turn around twice on the way to the airport on Friday. He doesn’t get on the plane until the final boarding call. Mark is waiting for him at the airport when he lands. Mark doesn’t look surprised or relieved to see him. Is he really that predictable?

“So, I guess it never occurred to you that I might change my mind? That I might decide not to come?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Wa- Eduardo. Once you agreed, of course you were going to come. You don’t renege. And if you couldn’t come for any reason, you would’ve called, so that I could figure something out.”

How does Mark know that about Eduardo better than he himself does? “Well, I’m glad _you_ were so sure,” Eduardo says, a slight edge to his voice.

“Hmm.” Mark looks at his briefcase and garment bag. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes.”

“Did you just bring suits?”

“I like suits. But no, I brought some casual clothing as well, jeans, sweaters.”

“Are the jeans on hangers, too?” Mark asks with a smile playing around his mouth.

“Just because something is casual doesn’t mean it needs to be wrinkled.” Eduardo eyes him up and down. “Not that you’d know that.” Not that Mark’s clothes are actually wrinkled, but he does look very casual in his jeans and ubiquitous hoodie. He is wearing sneakers instead of flip flops, which makes it a little better. Next to him, though, Eduardo probably looks almost absurdly formal in his suit.

Mark shrugs. “Someone once told me wearing a suit makes an impression. There are very few people I want to impress.”

“It can be a sign of respect.”

“I don’t respect anyone for the clothes they wear. Just for the things they can do.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Sometimes I wear suits. When Chris tells me to. Sometimes when he tells me to.”

Eduardo laughs a little.

“Let’s go,” Mark says and leads Eduardo out to his car.

Eduardo puts his bags in the trunk and settles in the passenger’s seat and fastens his seatbelt. Mark gets in the driver’s seat and fastens his seatbelt. He starts the car, but doesn’t pull out. Eduardo looks over at him with raised brows. Mark reaches in pocket and pulls something out. He holds it out to Eduardo. It’s a ring. Eduardo takes it and slides it onto his left ring finger. It’s only then that he notices Mark is already wearing a ring.

Mark looks at him and says, “Thanks for doing this.”

Eduardo nods.

They don’t talk much as Mark drives, having worked out their story in emails. Eduardo had vetoed the overly elaborate tale that he suspected Dustin had played a big part in developing, in favor of the relatively simple story that they had started talking a year and a half ago and it had led to something more until they had married a few months ago. And they had kept it quiet, private, because of Facebook.

It takes a while to get there, but they pull up at Worthing’s ostentatious mansion as the sun sets. Worthing’s butler, Granger, comes out to greet them. Mark says something to him in an undertone as he pops the trunk. Granger smiles and says something back. Mark laughs and gives him a pat on the arm as he climbs out of the car. Eduardo watches this all, bemused, as he gets out of the car.

Granger calls someone over to take the car. Mark shakes his head at Eduardo when he goes to take his own bag. Eduardo grabs his briefcase and Mark grabs his messenger bag. Granger takes the rest of their luggage and leads them to their room. Granger sets down their bags and tells them that dinner will be served in half an hour. He leaves them alone in the room.

“So, you seem pretty friendly with the butler,” Eduardo says as he unpacks his bag.

“Granger? Yeah, Worthing has a lot of parties out here. I’ve been here a few times. Granger’s a lot more interesting to talk to than a lot of the people Worthing invites.”

Eduardo laughs. He hangs up his pants, shirts, and jackets in the closet.

Mark dumps all of his clothes in the dresser.

Eduardo shakes his head and puts his socks and underwear in one of the empty drawers of the dresser. “Should we change before dinner?”

“Why would we do that?”

“Never mind.”

~~~

Dinner goes okay. Worthing is a big, outspoken, attractive man in his late forties. He has a certain loud charm, but there’s an underlying calculation to him that puts Eduardo off. Worthing insists everyone calls him Bobby. Something about him reminds Eduardo of Sean. Except Mark doesn’t seem at all admiring of him. As a matter of fact, Eduardo would say that Mark doesn’t like Worthing at all, but is covering it up very well. And there’s something odd in Worthing’s manner toward Mark, although Eduardo can’t put his finger on it. Mark seems to be relieved to get away from him when they retire for the evening.

“Why do you put up with this guy if you don’t like him?” Eduardo asks as they get ready for bed.

“I promised Chris.”

“Does Chris know how much you dislike him?”

Mark shrugs. “I don’t know. Chris knows I don’t much like him, but he says that I don’t much like anyone.”

“No. You’re mostly indifferent to most people. You only actively dislike or like a very few.”

“Yeah, but Chris doesn’t really understand indifference. He can’t really get not caring.”

“You must be really frustrating to him.”

“Yes. That’s why when he asks me do something particularly, I try to.”

“Huh.”

“Eduardo, why are you being so nice?”

“I’m a nice person.”

“You are a nice person, but you’re not always nice to me.”

“I’ve tried to be polite since the depositions.”

“Polite isn’t the same as nice.”

“Wow, Mark, nuance, I’m impressed,” Eduardo says sarcastically. Which isn’t exactly fair. Mark is fairly detached and distances himself from most people. His reactions and emotional responses are often all about the nuance.

Mark just gives him a faintly amused look.

“I decided that if I was going to go along with this farce, I may as well try to get along for the duration.”

Mark nods.

“Besides the thought of your apology gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.”

Mark gives him a sour look.

Mark climbs into one side of the bed and pulls the covers up. Eduardo turns off the light and climbs in the other side.

“Goodnight,” Mark says quietly.

“Goodnight.”

~~~

The next morning, Eduardo wakes slowly, feeling warm and comfortable. He tenses as he realizes that during the night he migrated across the bed, spooned up against Mark’s back, and completely wrapped himself around Mark. Eduardo extricates himself as quickly and carefully as he can. He grabs some clothes and locks himself in the bathroom. He stares at himself in the mirror for a few seconds, trying to calm down. He strips and takes a cold shower. He gets out and gets dressed. 

When he exits the bathroom, Mark is still sleeping. Eduardo fetches his briefcase and pulls his laptop from it. He sits down at the small table and tries to work. But every few minutes, he finds himself looking across the room at Mark. By the time Mark is up and dressed, Eduardo is in a foul mood.

He takes digs at Mark all day. He tries to rein himself in, but can’t. At least he (mostly) doesn’t do it in front of Worthing. Mark snipes back a couple of times, but then just doesn’t react at all. That makes it worse, somehow.

That night, after dinner, Mark pleads tiredness. Worthing shoos them off with a smirk. Eduardo knows exactly what he’s thinking. He wants to punch him in his smug, self-satisfied face. When they get back to their room Eduardo says something insulting about Facebook, trying to get Mark to react. Mark looks at him and then grabs his messenger bag and goes into the bathroom and locks the door. Eduardo waits for a few minutes, but he doesn’t come out. And two hours later, when Eduardo gets in bed, Mark still hasn’t come out.

Eduardo feels bad. He doesn’t know why he feels the need to be so mean and petty. It’s not even about Mark, it’s about him. He’d thought he was over Mark - over wanting to be his friend, over wanting an apology that wasn’t going to happen (the coerced one he’s getting doesn’t count for much), over wanting Mark. It’s really hard, wanting what you can’t have. When Eduardo falls asleep thinking about it, Mark still hasn’t come out of the bathroom.

~~~

The next morning, Eduardo wakes up wrapped around Mark again. Only this time Mark’s facing him and is awake. Eduardo shoves violently away from Mark, almost making him fall off the bed.

“God, this is so stupid. I never should have come here. You and your stupid plan,” Eduardo says

“Hey, no one forced you to be here. You agreed.”

“Yes, I agreed. For an apology I know you’re never going to mean. How could you when you never think you’re fucking wrong? Of course, it’s partly my fault because it’s not like I didn’t know how you could be. I can’t understand how Chris and Dustin are still your friends. I can’t understand how _anyone_ is your friend. It’s ironic how you came up with an idea that allows hundreds of millions of people to connect with their friends when you don’t have any clue what that means.” The silence seems to ring in Eduardo’s ears after his tirade. Looking at Mark makes him want to cringe. Mark looks small and hurt and laid bare. Mark shouldn’t look like that. He made Mark look like that. He feels sick.

Mark jerkily gets up and grabs some clothes. He yanks on some pants and a shirt. He shoves his feet in some shoes. All the while Eduardo watches him, trying to find the words to apologize. Mark digs in his messenger bag and pulls something out. He tosses it to Eduardo. Eduardo barely manages to catch it. It’s a flash drive. He looks up at Mark.

“You can post it wherever you want.” Mark digs out his keys and puts them on top of the dresser next to him. “You can take the car and go. Leave the keys at the front desk of Facebook or with Dustin or Chris, whatever. I’ll make your excuses to Worthing. Some business emergency,” Mark says in a monotone and then quickly leaves the room.

Eduardo stares after Mark for a few seconds. Then he looks down at the flash drive in his hand. He goes and gets his laptop. He powers it on and plugs in the flash drive. He opens the video he finds on it. It’s Mark on a webcam. Mark starts speaking.

“You wanted an apology I meant, so here it goes: I’m sorry for all the times I took your friendship for granted. I’ve never been great at making friends – connecting with people is hard for me. You seemed to understand me, though, so I thought you knew that I didn’t really know how to be the kind of friend you were.

“I’m sorry that you thought I put Sean ahead of you. He had more knowledge and experience than either of us – that’s why I listened to him. Maybe he told me what I wanted to hear, but it worked. Sean has his faults, but I needed someone who’d been there before.

“I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to get you out to Palo Alto. I’m sorry I wasn’t clear enough about what Facebook and I needed from you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I decided you had to go after you froze the account. I thought it was a childish overreaction that could’ve had serious consequences for Facebook. I should have tried to make you understand. Because I don’t think you did.

“I’m sorry that my ideas were never going to fit with your ideas. I’m sorry that you had tell everything to a group of lawyers who didn’t know you and only cared about what you said inasmuch as what it could prove. I’m sorry that I didn’t understand how important your father’s approval was to you.”

And the video ends. It appears that Eduardo got what he wanted – an apology that Mark meant. There’s no doubt in his mind that Mark meant all of it. He’d always thought that an apology would make him feel better, instead he feels lost. It’s as if he’d misunderstood everything since the first time he’d met Mark. It’s like that optical illusion of the rabbit and the duck. Eduardo had been thinking it was a rabbit the whole time, but now all he can see is the duck. It’s still the same picture, just from a different perspective. 

Eduardo takes a shower and gets dressed. He has to rebutton his shirt three times, he’s so lost in thought. He contemplates going and finding something to eat, but he ends up back in front of his computer. Eduardo’s still sitting there thinking about everything when Mark comes back to the room, over an hour after he left.

“Oh, I thought you’d be gone by now,” Mark says and starts to duck back out.

“Wait!”

Mark pauses in the doorway.

“I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I went way over the line. I was, uh, angry at myself and you were a convenient target.”

Mark comes back in the room and closes the door behind him. He comes further in the room, but stays near the bed. “Why were you angry at yourself?”

“Because it’s better than feeling pathetic about wanting what I can’t have.”

“What do you want?”

“You.”

Mark furrows his brow. “You mean you want to be friends again? Or-“

“I want to be friends again. And I want to take care of you, even when it annoys you,” Eduardo stops, not sure he can say the rest of it. “I want to wake up every morning like I woke up this morning, you in bed with me, me wrapped around you.” He holds up his left hand and rubs his thumb over the ring on his ring finger. “I want this ring to be something you give to me as a symbol of commitment and I want to give you one in return. And I want it to happen in front of our friends and family.”

Mark sits down abruptly on the bed, looking dazed. “I’m confused.”

“I know I haven’t exactly acted like-“

“No, I mean, why can’t you have what you want?”

Eduardo stalks over to the bed and takes Mark’s face in his hands. “You’d better mean this.”

Mark nods and opens his mouth, probably to say something. Eduardo leans in for a kiss. He kisses Mark until his back screams at him from the angle he holding it at. He pulls back and toes off his shoes. Then he kneels at Mark’s feet, pulling off Mark’s shoes. Eduardo pushes Mark back on the bed and crawls up after him. He lies down on top of Mark and kisses him again. They kiss until their lips are red and a little swollen. Eduardo rolls off of Mark, but keeps a hand on his chest.

Eduardo groans when something occurs to him.

“What?” Mark asks.

“I feel like I should thank Worthing, but, I don’t know, something about the guy kind of bothers me.”

Mark shrugs a little.

“Why did you tell him you were married, anyway?”

“Oh, he was always hitting on me and saying all kinds of things loaded with innuendo. Then he tried to put his hands on me and Chris didn’t want me to piss him off, so I said I was married.”

“He _what_?” Eduardo practically yells.

“He-“

“Wait. Listen, Mark, if Chris had any idea that Worthing was, was _harassing_ you, trust me, Chris would have pissed him off himself.”

“You think?”

“I know,” Eduardo says and gets up off the bed.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Eduardo gives Mark a quick hard kiss. “I have to go take care of something. Stay here. I’ll be right back. Oh, actually, start packing. I don’t think we need to be here anymore.”

Mark gets up off the bed. “Wait-“

“Stay here. Please.”

Mark nods.

Eduardo slips his shoes back on and leaves the room.

~~~

Eduardo gets back about ten minutes later. Mark’s bags are packed and by the door. Mark’s in front of the closet.

“Do you hang up your dirty clothes?” Mark asks.

“What? Oh, for packing, yes. I’ll do it.”

Mark goes to sit down on the bed. “Where did you go?”

“To have a talk with Worthing.”

“You didn’t hit him, did you?”

“No, I thought about it though.”

“Hmm.”

“You don’t have to go to any more of his parties, either,” Eduardo says, then sees the way Mark’s looking at him and hurriedly adds, “Unless you want to, of course.”

Mark’s still giving him a sharp look.

“This is part of me taking care of you,” Eduardo says.

Mark look softens a bit. “Okay, but you get to tell Chris.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

They get all packed up and Mark finds Granger who gets the car brought around. They put their bags in the car and Mark tells Granger goodbye. They head off. The trip back is much less tense than the trip there. Eduardo makes Mark pull over at the first coffee place he sees so he can get some coffee and something to eat. About halfway back, Eduardo reaches over and puts his hand on Mark’s leg. Mark glances over and Eduardo smiles at him. Mark smiles back.

~~~

Six months later, Eduardo gets everything he wants.


	17. A Better Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=4113734#t4113734): Cameron/Mark, Eduardo/Mark, AU. Mark takes a liking to Cameron, at least (insomuch as he takes a liking to anyone who's not Eduardo, Chris, Dustin or one of his programmer friends), and decides to share the clearly superior idea of Facebook with the Winklevii and gives them the option of being involved, or putting in additional funding alongside Eduardo's. Eduardo's a little hesitant and unhappy about the idea, not to mention the distinctly intrigued looks Cameron keeps shooting Mark. Lots of UST between Cameron/Mark and Eduardo/Mark and ending pairing is up to you!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are three endings to this: Eduardo/Mark, Cameron/Eduardo/Mark, and Cameron/Mark. The Cameron/Mark version is linked in the end notes. Both versions have the Cameron/Eduardo/Mark ending.

Mark is sort of reluctantly amused by Cameron Winklevoss. He’s just so polite in his emails and he always includes a quote that seems specifically designed to entertain Mark.

_Hello,_

_I was wondering if you had the chance to look at the outline we sent you. If you could please get back to us with your thoughts, it would be appreciated._

_Sincerely,  
Cameron Winklevoss_

_I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true.  
-Dorothy Parker_

_Hello,_

_Do you have time to meet and discuss progress? Please let one of us know as soon as possible. Thank you._

_Sincerely,  
Cameron Winklevoss_

_All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.  
-Mark Twain_

_Hello,_

_We haven’t heard from you in some time. I know juggling classes and other projects can be difficult. Please let us know if there are any problems or issues. Perhaps we can help._

_Sincerely,  
Cameron Winklevoss_

_The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.  
-Stephen Hawking_

The other Winklevoss is fairly impatient. And the other guy, Narendra, just seems frustrated. Not that Mark blames him, exactly. He is giving them the run around.

It’s when Cameron finds him after class one day and asks not entirely stupid questions that Mark maybe, maybe decides he’s kind of okay. Cameron’s only a little patronizing and Mark has to wonder of he’s even aware because, honestly, he comes across as too _nice_ to be doing it on purpose. Mark might like Cameron even more if standing next to him didn’t make Mark think he looks like a troll in comparison. And, yes, it’s kind of shallow, but insecurities suck like that.

Eduardo is not that enthused when Mark says he wants to let the Winklevosses and Narendra know about the site. He’s even less happy when Mark informs him that Mark agreed to work on their site. But, at least, after he learns that, he agrees that it’s only fair that Mark lets them know (Mark’s never really concerned himself with fair – he had a better idea).

~~~

When Mark tells them, Cameron is intrigued, the other one is ambivalent, and Narendra is, well, incensed. But not at Mark, not really. Narendra is upset that Mark hasn’t been working on their site, but he seems a lot angrier at Cameron and the other one for not being angry. So, he goes storming out and the twins look at each other and then the other one follows after Narendra. Mark wonders if twins actually do have some sort of telepathic connection. Then he asks if they do. 

Cameron laughs. “Not really, we just know each other pretty well. So, tell me more about the site.”

“Your brother didn’t seem that interested.”

“He might have been more interested if you hadn’t called him ‘the other one’.”

“I can’t remember if his name is Tyler or Taylor. I know people get angry when you call them by the wrong name.” Which Mark knows from experience.

“I think he’d prefer a slightly wrong name to ‘the other one’.” Cameron is smiling at him, so Mark can’t quite tell if he’s serious.

“Hmm.”

“So, tell me again why your idea is better.”

~~~

Eduardo and Cameron don’t seem to care for each other all that much. Normally, Mark wouldn’t notice since they’re both awfully polite to each other, but then Dustin asks how Mark can stand all the tension between them and Mark starts seeing little signs. Eduardo clenches his teeth when Cameron shows up. Cameron seems to be either faintly amused or faintly challenging when he’s talking to Eduardo. They both do their best to get Mark’s attention. Mark sometimes has to kick them both out of his room when he’s coding.

Cameron seems to actually get how cool Thefacebook could be. And he seems to admire Mark and what he’s doing. Mark finds it flattering. It makes him feel… special. And it’s easier with Cameron.

Eduardo thinks Mark is smart and he thinks Mark has good ideas, but he doesn’t seem to think that Mark can take care of himself. It’s kind of annoying. But Wardo is a really good friend to Mark, even if Mark knows he isn’t the best of friends back. Which Eduardo accepts about him.

Mark can’t understand why they don’t get along. They’re both good-looking, they’re both very personable, they’re both concerned with how people see them, and they both have money. It seems like they both have a lot more in common with each other than with Mark. It gives him a headache when he thinks about it too long.

~~~

Things are moving so fast now. Everybody is out in Palo Alto. It was a suggestion of Cameron’s. Well, actually, he’d just suggested that Silicon Valley was the place to be for a tech start-up. They had settled on Palo Alto after finding a house there. Eduardo had come out, even though he hadn’t really liked the idea and had wanted to find advertisers in New York. Cameron had successfully argued that investors were the way to go.

It’s Facebook now, mostly because Dustin had kept calling the house the Thefacebook headquarters and it had really annoyed Mark. Mark and Dustin and the interns are coding pretty much all the time now. They’re doing it.

Mark wonders where they’d be if both Cameron and Eduardo hadn’t been so opposed to him meeting with Sean Parker. He’d wanted to, but when Cameron and Eduardo actually team up, they’re hard to disagree with. He supposes it doesn’t really matter. He’s got what he wants. He’s building something amazing with his friends. And if he sometimes wishes Cameron and Eduardo weren’t constantly trying to outdo each other, well, nothing’s perfect. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone, right?

~~~

They’ve got a big investor. They did it. Mark’s outside, just taking it in, while everyone else is inside, celebrating. Mark’s not sure why he isn’t inside with them. He’s also not sure why he’s not happier. Maybe because everything is going to be different now.

They’re getting set up with offices. It’s no longer just a few servers and a few programmers. Mark’s going to be making a lot of decisions that affect people’s lives. He can do it, he knows. It’s just really big.

He’s not going back to Harvard. Most of the guys have been talking about it - Eduardo, Cameron, Chris, and one of the interns. Dustin hasn’t been and Mark doesn’t think he will. Mark needs to talk to Wardo. Eduardo needs to understand that the CFO can’t be across the country, not now. He’s going to have to give up the position if he goes. And Cameron has his rowing. He’s been keeping it up.

If they go, Mark won’t feel abandoned, he won’t. He’s CEO, and while it would be nice to be surrounded by people he trusts, he can do it with just Dustin, he can. He’s going to change the way people connect with each other. He wishes he felt just a little bit less overwhelmed.

Dustin comes out and joins him by the pool. Mark’s not disappointed that it’s not Cameron or Eduardo, not even a little bit.

“So, they’re in there talking about how all of Harvard will know what we’ve done out here,” says Dustin.

“Yeah.”

“I have to wonder if they know what college is for.”

“Chris would probably says something about learning.”

“Wardo would say something about how it’s what you’re supposed to do.”

“Why did you go to college, Mark?” Dustin asks in a sing-song voice.

“To get a good job,” Mark says and smiles as Dustin says the last three words along with him.

They’re both silent for a few seconds.

“We can do this, Mark.”

“I know.”

“Still, it would be nice…”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go inside.”

“Okay.”

They go inside and Mark does his best to at least enjoy the atmosphere. He’s not entirely successful. When the celebrations start to wind down, Mark heads up to his room. Tomorrow’s a big day.

~~~

**Ending – Eduardo/Mark**

Mark’s in bed and the lights are off, but he isn’t asleep yet. There’s a soft knock and Eduardo’s voice calls out, “Mark?” quietly from the other side of the door. Mark sits up and turns on the lamp on the nightstand.

“I’m awake,” Mark calls back.

Wardo comes in and closes the door behind him. He comes over to sit on the bed. “I just realized you’re not going back to Harvard.”

“No. And we’re going to have to talk about the CFO thing.”

“What? Oh. Oh. I guess I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Yeah, well, you should.”

“At least Cameron’s going back, too,” Eduardo says almost under his breath.

“Why don’t you like him?”

“Because there’s only so much attention you spare anything that’s not your computer.”

“That’s what it is?”

“And there’s the way he looks at you,” Eduardo mutters.

“How does he look at me?”

“Like, like…”

“Like what?”

“Like he wants to know everything about you. Like he wants to know what it would be like to have all of that focus on him. Like he wants… you. He looks at you like I look at you.”

Mark is completely caught off guard. He was ready to say that Eduardo was imagining things until that last sentence. “He, you, I.” Mark blows out a breath. “You want me?”

“Yes. I’m not sure for how long. I didn’t realize it until I saw the way he looked at you.”

“Oh.”

“I shouldn’t have told you.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s awful to have to tell someone you don’t want them back.”

“Have you had to do that before?”

“I don’t know, a couple of times. It’s not important. Anyway, I’m sorry.”

“Hmm.”

“I’ll go.” Eduardo makes a move to get up.

“Wait.”

Eduardo settles back down. “What?”

“That’s a big assumption to make, that I don’t want you back.”

“You didn’t even notice.”

“I’ve been busy. Sometimes I don’t notice that I need to pee until it’s almost too late.”

Eduardo laughs.

Mark takes a deep breath and says, “Maybe we could try something.”

“Like what?”

Mark leans toward Wardo and kisses him. It’s a short kiss, but a little thrill runs through Mark. He pulls back, but Eduardo sort of surges into him, sweeping him into another kiss. This kiss is deep and hungry, like Eduardo wants to devour him. Eduardo pulls back and stares at Mark’s face with dark eyes. He yanks back the bed covers and then just pulls Mark over so that he’s straddling Eduardo’s lap. He kisses Mark, shoving his hips up against Mark’s. Mark’s a little shocked because of the suddenness and Eduardo’s aggressiveness and because of the speed of his own arousal. Eduardo puts his hands on Mark’s waist and pulls him down while Eduardo grinds up, all the while kissing him. Eduardo thrusts a couple more times and Mark comes, abruptly, pleasure short circuiting all his senses for a second. When all of Mark’s faculties come back online, Eduardo’s still grinding up against him. Mark pushes down a little gingerly, sensitive. Eduardo tears his mouth from Mark’s and lets out a cry and comes.

When Wardo composes himself, he looks at Mark and smiles a little sheepishly. Mark eases himself off Eduardo and grimaces at the wetness in his shorts. Mark says, “I’m going to, um, clean up.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Wardo?”

“Come back when you’re done.”

“Okay.”

It only takes a couple of minutes for Mark to get cleaned up and changed. Mark climbs back in bed and waits. Eduardo comes back, ready for bed. Mark flips back the covers in invitation and Wardo climbs in. They’re quite for a few moments. Mark reaches over and snaps off the light.

“So that was good,” Mark says.

Eduardo snorts. “Good, yes.”

Mark lets the silence build for a few moments. “So, I bet Stanford has a really good econ program.”

“Yes, actually it does. It was one of my top three schools, even though my father doesn’t like it that much.”

“Oh,” Mark says and hopes it doesn’t sound as disappointed as he feels. If Eduardo’s father doesn’t like it, there’s next to no chance that Wardo will transfer.

“Of course, my father would probably expect me to stay close to a company I helped found, one that I’m CFO of.”

Mark smiles a big, stupid smile. Wardo can’t see it, but he can probably hear it in Mark’s voice when he says, “You’re probably right.”

~~~

**Ending – Cameron/Eduardo/Mark**

Mark’s just drifting off when he hears a whispered discussion outside his bedroom door. He can’t quite make out anything. After almost a minute, he walks over to the door and pulls it open. Eduardo and Cameron are standing there, looking surprised.

“Did we wake you up?” Cameron asks.

“No, not really,” Mark says. He reaches over and flips on the light. He blinks at the sudden brightness.

“Can we come in?” asks Eduardo.

Mark nods. Mark goes back over to the bed and sits.

Cameron and Eduardo come in. Eduardo closes the door behind him and then comes over and sits on the bed. Cameron gives him a narrow-eyed look and leans against the dresser.

“We had a little talk and we decided that you have to choose. Between the two of us,” Cameron says.

“Choose? Like, I can only be friends with one of you?”

Cameron looks at Eduardo.

Eduardo shrugs. “I told you.”

“Told him what?” Mark asks.

“That you hadn’t noticed us, um, competing for your attention,” Eduardo says.

“Of course I noticed, it was hard to miss,” Mark says.

“But do you know why?” Cameron asks.

Mark opens his mouth to say yes, but closes it again because obviously it’s not why he thinks. “Okay, so, why?”

Cameron and Eduardo look at each other again. Cameron shrugs and says, “Faint heart never won fair, uh, man - to mangle a quote.”

“Won fair man? What? Oh. I see,” Mark says, realizing.

“Really?” Eduardo asks Cameron.

“Oh, and you want me to choose,” Mark says.

“Yes,” both Cameron and Eduardo say.

“What if I don’t want to? Choose, I mean.”

Eduardo flinches a little. “Well, that’s a choice too, if you don’t want either of us.”

“That’s, um, not what I meant,” Mark says.

Cameron says, “Mark, if this some way for you to try to be fair-“

Mark smirks a little. “I know both of you like to credit me with the best motives, but really, fair is not an issue here.”

Eduardo says, “I don’t-“

“Okay,” Cameron says easily.

Eduardo looks at Cameron.

Cameron smiles. “I know how to share.”

Eduardo seems to take that as a challenge. “Fine.”

They both look over at Mark. 

“Did you want me to tell you what to do?” 

Cameron looks considering, but Eduardo says, “No.” Then he reaches over and brings Mark into a kiss. When Eduardo pulls back, somehow Cameron is right there, next to Mark on the bed. Cameron gives Mark a soft, sweet kiss. After he pulls away, Wardo pushes him down to lie on the bed. He gives Mark a short, hard kiss.

“I can see the benefits of competition,” Mark says breathlessly.

Eduardo moves down Mark’s body and mouths at his dick through his shorts. Mark gasps a little and tries to find something to grip with his hands. Cameron laces his fingers through Mark’s and pushes his hands down on either side of Mark’s head. Cameron kisses him as Eduardo pulls down his shorts. Mark gives a short stifled groan into Cameron’s mouth as Wardo licks at the head of his dick. Cameron pulls back a little and grins at Mark. Cameron leans down again and Mark offers up his lips but Cameron bypasses them and goes for his neck, just below his jaw, sucking lightly. Then Eduardo starts sucking on Mark’s dick and it’s all Mark can do to keep from bucking his hips up. Eduardo sucks and then pulls off and Mark doesn’t whimper, he doesn’t. Eduardo licks teasing stripes up and down his dick while Cameron licks and sucks at his neck. Eduardo takes Mark in his mouth again and it’s too much.

“Wardo,” Mark calls out in warning.

Eduardo doesn’t pull away, just keeps sucking, and Mark comes. Clenching his fingers hard into Cameron’s hands. Eduardo finally pulls off and coughs a little. Cameron pulls back and untangles their hands. He looks at Mark’s neck with something like satisfaction. Mark feels utterly drained and like he could sleep for days. He wants to reciprocate, though.

“I want to-“

“It’s fine, Mark,” Eduardo says.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Just sleep,” says Cameron.

“Are we- Can we do this again? I mean, not exactly this, although I wouldn’t be opposed,” Mark says.

Eduardo looks at Cameron and says, “I think that can be arranged.”

Cameron looks back at Eduardo. “I think maybe it will happen as often as we can make it happen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Version with Cameron/Mark ending](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11566659/chapters/25986573) (TSN Kink Meme Prompt Ficlets - Mark/Other, Chapter 2)


	18. What I Wouldn’t Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=4608838#t4608838%0A): Eduardo/Mark, abuse, h/c. "I want.. I need you here. Please don't tell him I said that." Sean kicks the shit out of Mark all the time. Mark is afraid, and willing to put up with anything to make Sean happy. Eduardo sees the bruises and proceeds to make Sean regret he ever put his Napster-founding hands on Mark. Mark doesn't understand why Eduardo cares so much until Eduardo kisses him-- among other things.

“Please don’t tell him you said that? What, is Sean dictating our conversations, now?” Eduardo asks and reaches out to Mark, to grab his arm, make him pay attention, make him _listen_. Mark recoils back and crosses his arms, hunching his shoulders. Something about the defensive posture just stops Eduardo. He slowly reaches out with one hand and gently places it on Mark’s shoulder. Mark   
doesn’t flinch until his hand actually settles. Mark’s never been much for physical contact (although, usually he’s okay with Eduardo), but this is something else.

“Mark?” Eduardo asks softly.

Mark doesn’t say anything.

Eduardo rubs lightly at Mark’s shoulder with his thumb, trying to be comforting. “Mark, are you-“ He cuts himself off when Mark makes a pained noise and hunches away. Eduardo quickly lifts his hand away. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Mark just stares at him.

Eduardo reaches out and hooks two fingers in the collar of Mark’s t-shirt and pulls it until he can see Mark’s shoulder. Mark just stands there as he looks at the bruise there. Eduardo looks back up at Mark’s face and is taken aback by what he sees there. Mark looks… ashamed.

Eduardo lets go of the collar. “Are there more?”

Mark looks down.

“How?” Eduardo asks and then he realizes. _Please don’t tell him._ “Did _he_ do this?” He can’t keep the fury out of his voice. He starts back towards the living room.

“Don’t,” Mark says quietly.

“Mark, he-“

“The meeting with Thiel. Please, Wardo. This is big, Facebook is big. It needs this, I need this. Please.”

Eduardo grabs onto his temper and tries to hear what Mark is saying. Facebook means so much to Mark that he’s willing to put up with this. He takes a few deep breaths. “Okay. Okay, I’m just going to talk with him right now. You are never in a room alone with him. After the meeting, he’s gone. I’ll take the rest of the meetings and set up some of my own. I’ll get you your investors.”

“You, you’re going to stay?”

“I’ll have to fly back to New York for couple of days and get everything settled, but that can wait a few days. So, yeah.”

Mark has a little smile. “What about Christy?”

“Yeah, I think that’s pretty much done.”

“Oh.”

“Maybe you should get a little more sleep.”

Mark grimaces, but heads to one of the bedrooms.

Eduardo goes to find Sean.

~~~

Sean is pretty easily cowed. And Eduardo doesn’t think he’ll have trouble keeping him that way. He does come really close to hitting him in his smug face and he’s sure Sean knows it. Eduardo had realized at Harvard how insanely vulnerable an overtired Mark was after he’d been coding for a long time, most of his defenses and his confidence stripped away. Of course Sean saw it and took advantage.

Eduardo steps outside, takes out his cell and calls Christy. He tells her that he’ll be out in California for a few days, but that when he gets back, they need to talk. She starts yelling and then he yells back. And apparently they don’t need to talk when he gets back because they break up over the phone. After he disconnects, he stares out at the rain. This has got to be the worst day ever.

He goes back inside. He grabs his bags and goes into the bathroom. He finally strips out of his wet clothes and then takes a hot shower. He puts on some clothes to sleep in. He takes his bags and goes to Mark’s room. He knocks quietly and opens the door. The light by the bed is on. Mark is lying on his stomach, looking uncomfortable. He’s not asleep.

“Hey, can I crash in here?” Eduardo asks.

Mark nods. 

Eduardo puts his bags down inside the door. “I’ll be right back.”

Mark raises his eyebrows.

Eduardo goes to the kitchen and gets a big bowl of ice and a bottle of water. He goes to the bathroom and grabs a hand towel and a bottle of Tylenol from the medicine cabinet. He takes everything back to Mark’s room and closes the door behind him.

Mark looks at what he’s carrying and frowns. Eduardo sets everything down on the dresser. He picks up the Tylenol bottle and shakes a couple of pills out. He puts the bottle back down and picks up the water. He holds the water and pills out to Mark. Mark slowly maneuvers himself up and takes the pills and swallows them and then takes the water and sips. He puts the water bottle on the nightstand. Eduardo wraps up some of the ice in the towel.

“Take off your shirt,” Eduardo says.

Mark doesn’t move.

“Please.”

“It was really hard to get into,” Mark says.

“I’ll help.”

Eduardo helps Mark pull off the shirt. He tries to be as gentle as he can, but Mark still lets out a couple of stifled groans.

“Go ahead and lie back down.” Eduardo’s hands clench in Mark’s discarded shirt. Mark’s back is a patchwork of blues, reds, and purples. He wants so badly to go and find Sean. He reins himself in. He tosses the shirt towards a pile of clothes in the corner. He picks up the ice in the towel and tries to cover the worse bruises. He runs back to the bathroom and grabs another towel and comes back to the room. He fills the second towel with ice and arranges the towels on Mark’s back.

Eduardo goes over and climbs into the other side of the bed. He sits there for a few moments and stares into space.

Mark turns his head toward Eduardo. “Wardo?”

Eduardo turns on his side to face Mark. “Hmm?”

“Sorry.”

“What for?”

“Forgetting to pick you up. And… I shouldn’t have let Sean do this to me.”

“Sean shouldn’t have done that to you.”

“It wasn’t this bad before.”

Eduardo yells, “He’s done this,” pauses, takes a breath, and continues in a quieter tone, “He’s done this before?”

Mark closes his eyes, but not before Eduardo sees the shame there.

“Goddammit, Mark. Facebook isn’t worth your well-being.”

Mark’s eyes open and he looks straight at Eduardo. “It is to me.”

“What if it was Dustin or Chris or me? Would it be worth it then?”

“No,” Mark answers in a quiet voice. “But it’s mine. I mean it yours too, but it’s mine, it’s me. There’s not a whole lot _I_ wouldn’t do for it.”

“Mark,” Eduardo says.

“I know it’s messed up. But that’s how it is.”

“Mark, you can’t-“

“Why does it matter so much? It’s just a few bruises.”

“It’s not just a few bruises. And it’s… you. You matter to me. Like you and Facebook, there’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for you.”

Mark looks at him in confusion.

Eduardo leans over and kisses Mark on the lips, softly. He pulls back just a little. “Understand?”

Mark licks his lips and nods.

“Good, because when you’re feeling better, we’re going to do a lot more.”

“Okay.”


	19. You with Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=5210182#t5210182%0A): Eduardo/Mark. Eduardo plans his revenge; he accepts Mark's apology after the lawsuits and starts a relationship with him, intending to break his heart in the worst way possible when the opportunity arises. Eduardo doesn't expect his past feelings for Mark to resurface and to actually fall in love with him all over again.  
>  "Don't say no to me you can't say no to me because it's such a relief to have love again and to lie in bed and be held and touched and kissed and adored and your heart will leap when you hear my voice and see my smile and feel my breath on your neck and your heart will race when I want to see you and I will lie to you from day one and use you and screw you and break your heart because you broke mine first and you will love me more each day until the weight is unbearable and your life is mine and you'll die alone because I will take what I want then walk away and owe you nothing it's always there it's always been there and you cannot deny the life you feel fuck that life fuck that life fuck that life I have lost you now." - Sarah Kane (Crave)

Eduardo knows it’s probably a stupid idea. He knows this. But it’s pretty much the only thing keeping him from falling apart. It had started percolating during the depositions, while he’d been spilling out his heart and Mark had been spilling out his words. It had bloomed to full life when Mark had found him after the settlement and gave him a pathetic little ‘I’m sorry.’ Actually, he’d said more, but Eduardo hadn’t paid that much attention. And there had been a look in Mark’s eyes that had made Eduardo think his idea could work. So, he’d graciously (pretended to have) accepted Mark’s apology.

He feels like he needs to tell someone about it. So that he can get some support. He finally decides on Cameron, who he’d kind of become friends with after Mark had squeezed him out. Cameron hadn’t even gotten upset about Eduardo being part of their depositions (Tyler had a little, but had gotten over it). When he tells Cameron about his plan, though, Cameron seems really skeptical.

“I don’t know, man. It doesn’t sound much like you,” Cameron says.

“I know, that’s what makes it perfect. He’ll never suspect it.”

“But, are you sure it’s something, um, are you sure you want to be the type of person who would do something like this?”

“Whether or not I want to be, I am.”

“It’s kind of a horrible thing to do.”

“He’s done horrible things to me.”

“That’s true, I guess. Just, are you sure you don’t want to be the better person?”

“I am done being the better person. Doing the right thing, doing the nice thing, isn’t what gets you ahead in this world.”

“No, but it makes you feel better about yourself.”

“I haven’t felt good about myself in years.”

“Eduardo-“

“No, please. Could you just be a good friend and tell me it’s going to work?”

“Oh, I think it’ll work, I just don’t think you’ll want it to.”

“Gee, thanks.”

~~~

Eduardo temporarily bases himself in San Jose and leases offices for six months. He’s not sure how long it’s going to take, but he can build relationships with and develop contacts in the numerous nearby tech companies. 

He starts small with Mark, calls, a couple of lunches. Mark seems really pleased that he’s in the vicinity. Mark’s being very careful in a way Eduardo hasn’t seen before. Mark seems to be measuring out his words and trying not to push. It’s kind of odd, but it tells Eduardo that he really cares. And that plays right into his hands.

Eduardo tries to play it cool. He doesn’t want to fall into the old patterns of trying to take care of Mark, afraid that he’ll get attached. It’s hard though. When he finds himself calling Mark and reminding him to go home and get some sleep, he tells himself that he just playing the part of caring prospective boyfriend.

Eduardo starts to make himself indispensable. He attends events with Mark. Chris likes it when Eduardo attends with Mark. He tells Eduardo that Mark actually loosens up a little with him around and that Mark’s humor isn’t quite so sharp and pointed. Eduardo doesn’t know if that’s true, but a fair number of people actually seek them out. And Mark is funny, even if after awhile he starts to get a little antsy around all the people. Eduardo also smoothes over any tension caused by Mark’s blunt honesty. Mark seems to appreciate it when he bothers to care about his public image.

They date, after a fashion. They really know too much about each other to do the getting to know you thing. Eduardo senses that Mark is trying to reconnect in his own Mark way. It’s almost sweet how he’s taking his time. And it’s difficult not to fall into the sort of fawning he did at Harvard when Mark does something new with the site, but, oddly, Mark helps with that by not talking that much about Facebook.

Mark is a good kisser. Eduardo didn’t really expect him to be. He’d always thought that Mark would be too distracted by the ten million things going on in his head to focus fully on the act. But no, it’s like Mark is coding with his lips, figuring out the best way to interface with another system. It sometimes makes Eduardo dizzy.

Every once in a while (or perhaps more often than that), Eduardo finds himself forgetting his ultimate goal and actually enjoying Mark’s company. He tells himself that it’s not surprising, they were friends before anything else. Then Mark will say something that will remind him or Eduardo will talk to his father and all the anger and hurt is right there. And then it’s easy to remember what he’s doing and why.

It takes awhile for the relationship to move beyond kissing. Mark is taking it slow, but part of it is Eduardo. He struggles with the moral implications of it. He finally argues himself into it. It’s not like Eduardo hasn’t always been attracted to Mark. They both want each other, that, at least, is clear.

The first time they have sex, it’s not like Eduardo had imagined. Mark’s less self-assured than he had assumed. And much more experimental. Eduardo had kind of expected him to know what he wanted and be straight-forward about getting there. Not that it’s not good, if a little awkward at times. It’s not until later that it occurs to Eduardo that maybe Mark had never had sex with a guy before. He’s not entirely sure how he feels about that.

Eduardo keeps talking to Cameron, even though Cameron’s not at all on board with his plan. It’s still nice to talk to someone who’s wholly on his side even if Cameron thinks Eduardo’s doing something stupid. He’s worried about Eduardo and Eduardo needs that.

Eduardo starts spending more time at Mark’s house. He even has a drawer. Mark’s been making subtle (for him) overtures about Eduardo moving in. Mark hasn’t said he loves Eduardo, but his actions speak volumes. Eduardo should really move on to the next part of the plan, but somehow, it keeps getting put off.

~~~

They’re at some charity thing, making the rounds. A couple of hours in, Mark slips out, probably to find somewhere away from people for awhile. Eduardo will go find him in a few minutes. Eduardo spies Cameron out of the corner of his eye. He makes eye contact with him. Cameron tilts his head toward the door to the hall. Eduardo excuses himself and meets Cameron in the hall. Cameron sort of herds him to a more private corner near a modern art sculpture.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Eduardo asks.

“I just, I saw you in there. With Mark. You seem happy, Eduardo.”

“I am happy. Everything’s going to plan.”

“No, you seem happy with him. I don’t think going through with this will get you what you want.”

“Of course it will,” Eduardo says. He’s gotten pretty good at ignoring the part that agrees with Cameron, the part that thinks he’s going to be devastated when this ends and he loses Mark for good, the part that’s in lo- “I want him to hurt as much as I did.” And it’s true, it is. Revenge is important. His father taught him that. He was played for a fool. Forgiveness is for those who are weak. And there’s nothing worse in his father’s eyes than being a fool, except for being weak.

“I think you’re lying to yourself if you think you don’t have feelings for him. I just don’t see how this is going to make you feel anything but awful.”

“My only feeling is a desire for revenge. And when Mark finds me in Sean Parker’s arms, it will be satisfying to see his heart break like he broke mine. And for a bonus, he will see that his idol has feet of clay.”

“Jesus, Eduardo. How are you going to do that? I thought he was a friend of Mark’s.”

“He is. And don’t look so worried, I’m not going to trick him into it or anything. I won’t need to. Sean’s a hedonist. If something’s on offer, it won’t take long for him to accept.”

“This just seems so far away from the person that you are,” Cameron says, looking troubled.

“Maybe it’s the real me,” says Eduardo with a tight smile.

“I really don’t think so. I think this is something you’re going to regret.”

“I regret so many things already, what’s one more? Look, Cameron, I appreciate that you’re trying to be a good friend, I do. But you aren’t going to dissuade me. Now, I’m going to go find Mark.”

“Found him,” Mark’s voice says from behind Eduardo.

Cameron’s eyes get big. Eduardo turns around and doesn’t see Mark at first. Then he steps forward. Apparently there’s an alcove behind the statue. As Eduardo looks at Mark in shock, all his panicked mind can think is that it would’ve taken forever to find him.

Mark’s face is as blank as it’s ever been. “Well, and here I thought you were crap at bluffing. You’re good. I never suspected a thing.”

Eduardo can’t even get out a word. Not one.

“Revenge, huh, Wardo? I must say, I didn’t think you had it in you. Did you- You know what? I don’t want to know.” Mark turns to go.

“Mark,” Eduardo says and it comes out plaintively. He’s not at all sure what he wants to say or what he can say. There’s just this sinking feeling in his stomach, this dread. Cameron was right.

Mark whips back around. And there’s the pain in his eyes that Eduardo had thought he’d wanted. “You know, somebody asked me once if I could be more of an asshole. I think you just surpassed me, though. Because _I_ never set out to hurt you. You did get hurt, but it wasn’t deliberate. I didn’t mean to hurt you. And maybe it was stupid of me not to realize that you would be hurt. But there was never a plan with your pain as my goal.” Mark turns and walks away.

“Oh, God,” Eduardo says.

“I’m sorry,” Cameron says, startling Eduardo.

“What?”

“I didn’t realize he was there.”

“Not your fault. This is all mine.”

“I should’ve done more. Found a way to convince you this was wrong.”

“I wasn’t going to be convinced. You were right, this isn’t who I want to be. How am I going to fix this?”

“I don’t know if you can.”

~~~

After freaking out for awhile, Eduardo goes to Mark’s house. He knocks on the door then tries to use the key Mark had given him. But in the hour and a half since Mark left the charity thing, he’s had the locks changed. Eduardo knocks on the door for almost half an hour before giving up.

The next morning, someone delivers a box to his place. It has everything that he left over at Mark’s house, plus a few other things. There’s a jacket he remembers throwing over Mark’s shoulders one cold afternoon sophomore year. There’s a copy of Dune which he’d pressed on Mark after learning he’d never read it. And there’s a strange little sculpture he made out of paperclips once when Mark was coding and he was bored. He hadn’t even known that Mark had noticed that.

Eduardo tries to call, but after leaving a very tongue-tied voicemail, he can’t get through. He tries email, but everything just bounces right back at him. He tries Facebook because Mark hasn’t removed him from his friends. He just gets error messages when he tries to do anything concerning Mark.

He needs to do something to get Mark to talk to him. He needs to tell Mark that he knows how wrong it was. He needs to say he’s sorry. He needs Mark to listen. He needs Mark.

~~~

Eduardo’s cell rings and he leaps for it. It’s Dustin. Eduardo wonders if he’s calling to yell at him.

He answers with a tentative, “Hello.”

“Hey, Wardo, man, I just heard. Well, Mark just told us. Why didn’t you call?” Dustin sounds sympathetic.

Eduardo gets out a confused “I, um-“

“Look, whatever stupid thing Mark did, I’m sure he didn’t mean it. You guys can work it out.”

“Uh, I did it, the stupid thing. I mean, Mark broke up with me. Didn’t he tell you?”

“Oh. No, he just said ‘we broke up’ which I took to mean ‘I did something, you know, Markish and Eduardo broke up with me’, but I guess it was ‘Eduardo did something really terrible and I broke up with him’.”

“How do you know it’s something really terrible?”

“Because Mark wouldn’t break up with you otherwise.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re my friend, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, Dustin, I do.”

“I have to be on Mark’s side for this.”

“I get it. It’s okay. I did do something terrible.”

“Okay. If there’s any way you can fix it, do it. Mark looks awful.”

“I’ll try.”

~~~

Eduardo goes to the Facebook offices. Mark hasn’t had him barred, maybe because he’s a shareholder. Or maybe Mark just didn’t think Eduardo would ever have the nerve to come here. He breezes past Mark’s assistant and closes the door behind him. Mark’s at his computer, headphones on. Eduardo sits down on Mark’s couch and waits for him to notice someone else is in the room.

Dustin is right, Mark looks awful. He looks tired and… defeated, almost. He’s pale and strained with a unhappy slant to his mouth. Looking at Mark, it’s hard to remember why Eduardo ever would have wanted this, why he ever would have thought this would make him happy or satisfied.

After a few minutes, Mark’s typing slows and then stops. He pulls his headphones off, but doesn’t say anything or look over at Eduardo.

“I was really angry and really hurt. Which doesn’t excuse anything. I just wanted you to feel like I felt. I wanted you to know how it felt to have someone you cared about pull the rug out from under you. And my father has always said that hurting the people who hurt you is the best way not to get hurt again,” Eduardo says.

Mark is silent for a long minute. “And you want to be like your father,” he says impassively.

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I don’t want to be thought of as weak or a fool.”

“I never thought you were weak or a fool. I thought you were naïve and not right for the company. I thought you made some bad decisions. But everybody does that.”

“I’m sorry, Mark. It was an appalling thing to do. It’s inexcusable.”

“Would you really have gone through with it? With Sean?”

“I- No, no I wouldn’t have.”

“But you would’ve broken up with me.”

“I’d already put it off by two months. I think I would’ve kept putting it off.”

“How can I believe that?”

“I care about you. I’ve always cared about, whether I wanted to or not. I love-“

“Stop.”

Mark still hasn’t looked at him. Eduardo has to make him see. “I know it looks like I dated you, slept with you, to get revenge on you. That’s what I told myself I was doing. But what I felt for you, what I feel for you began long before Facebook was ever a thought in your head. Tell me you know that.”

“I- I thought, but, then- I don’t know.”

Eduardo gets up and sets his briefcase on Mark’s desk. Mark finally looks away from his computer. He looks over at the briefcase and then up at Eduardo, confused. Eduardo opens the briefcase and starts pulling stuff out and putting it on the desk.

There’s ripped corner of notepaper with Mark’s building and room number in his handwriting. There’s a cloth napkin from Mark’s mother’s Thanksgiving table and it has code written on it in pen. Mark had gone to trash it after he’d gotten the code on his computer, but Eduardo had rescued it. There’s a pinecone from the time Dustin had talked them into a camping trip in New Hampshire. Eduardo had found it on the walk that he had somehow convinced Mark to take with him. There’s a straw from that stupid hat from Caribbean Night. There’s sand from a beach in Miami that Eduardo had taken Mark to during spring break. There’s Mark’s spring semester course schedule. There’s a small stone turtle from an antique store that he’d dragged Mark into, looking for a gift for his sister. Mark had picked it up and rubbed at the smooth stone for several moments. He’d looked like he’d wanted it, but he eventually put it back down. Eduardo had gone back the next day and bought it. There’s a picture of the two of them. And there’s the now useless key to Mark’s house. Eduardo doesn’t know if Mark remembers all of these things or their significance. 

Mark picks up the turtle and Eduardo says, “I meant to give that to you for your birthday, but it was finals and then you were out here.”

“I had a turtle when I was ten. Simon. He was cool. This reminded me of him.”

Mark puts the turtle down and picks up the picture of the two of them. Eduardo wonders if he sees what Eduardo sees when he looks at it. Chris had taken the picture and he had given it to Eduardo with a sympathetic smile. In it, Mark’s saying something and Eduardo’s looking at Mark like he hung the moon. Mark studies the picture and then looks up at Eduardo.

Mark asks, “Have you- Is this-“ but breaks off.

“It’s the history of us. It’s stuff that means a lot to me because it’s about you and you with me.”

“Eduardo…”

“Please. Please, give me another chance. If you want me down on my knees, I will beg. Just please.”

“Have you forgiven me for the dilution? Because if you haven’t, if you can’t, then it doesn’t matter if I give you a second chance because it’s never going to work.”

Eduardo’s at a loss for a second. He takes a moment and then tries to be as truthful as he can. “I believe you thought you were doing what was best for the company. I believe that you didn’t mean to hurt me. I believe that you’re sorry for that. And, yes, I do forgive you, but it might take me awhile to put all of it behind me. Can you forgive me for hurting you?”

Mark looks back down at the photo. “I think maybe I can, but it might take me awhile to forget it.”

“You don’t have to forget it. You shouldn’t forget it, just maybe let it fade, don’t keep it fresh. Don’t let it keep hurting you.”

Mark nods slowly.

“Can we try again?” Eduardo asks and holds his breath, hoping.

Mark blows out a breath and looks up at him. “Okay, but I’m keeping the turtle.”

Eduardo laughs.


	20. Around Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=5269062#t5269062%0A): Eduardo/Mark. Eduardo goes to Brazil for spring break while Mark stays at Harvard. Mark starts to notice how much he misses having Eduardo around so he breaks into Eduardo's room and starts sleeping in Eduardo's bed because it makes him feel closer to him. When Eduardo gets back he finds Mark asleep in his bed wearing nothing but Eduardo's North Face jacket.

There’s a nagging feeling in the back of Mark’s mind. It’s like he’s forgetting something. It gets bad enough that he gets off his computer and starts searching his room, no idea what he’s looking for. He gives up after awhile. The feeling doesn’t go away. It’s not until the next day that he realizes. He’s not forgetting something. He’s _missing_ some _one_.

Eduardo’s been gone for three days now. He’s in Brazil for spring break. He had invited Mark. Mark had thought about it for a minute, but he had had code running through his head. Plus he hadn’t wanted to be a drag on Eduardo. Wardo wouldn’t think of it that way, but it’s his language and his family and he’d have to be a filter for Mark. There’s only so much dependence Mark can stand.

It’s weird. It feels like Wardo’s always been there. He hasn’t, but it feels like it. And now, and now, he’s not. It’s stupid to miss him. He’ll be back in a few days. It is stupid, but Mark can’t shake it. And after awhile, he can’t concentrate.

~~~

So, apparently, picking a lock is pretty easy. And it hadn’t taken that long to find clear, concise directions for it. Of course, it’s not like the locks in the dorms are of the highest security. He briefly considers filing an anonymous complaint.

Mark feels a little foolish, but he relaxes a little once he’s in Eduardo’s room. It’s neat and tidy, like it always is. It smells like Wardo, the detergent he uses, the cologne he sometimes wears. Mark sets up his laptop, surrounded by the scent, and starts typing.

Because it’s annoying to have to break into Eduardo’s room over and over, Mark uses an old ID of Eduardo’s and convinces Facilities that he’s Eduardo and that he lost his room key. They make him a new one for an outrageous fee (he knows it’s to discourage people from giving keys out or losing them, but wow). 

He’s kind of glad neither Chris nor Dustin is around, because he’s sure they would ask where he’s spending all of his time. After the sixth day Eduardo’s gone, Mark starts sleeping in Eduardo’s bed. It’s comforting somehow - Wardo’s scent is stronger, it wraps around him. Wardo will be back in a couple of days and everything will get back to normal.

~~~

Eduardo gets back to Harvard late Friday night. He was supposed to spend a day and a half in Miami with his parents and get back Sunday morning, but apparently some urgent business had come up for his father. It would have been nice if his father could have called before Eduardo had left Brazil. As it was, Eduardo only got the message after the plane had landed in Miami. He’d immediately gone to the ticket counter after getting through customs and was able to get on the next available flight to Boston.

Strangely, he wasn’t all that upset about it, although it would have been nice to see his mother. But he’d missed Mark and worried about him up at Harvard, all alone. He’d wondered if Mark was eating enough or sleeping enough with no one to remind him.

Anyway, it’s been a very long day and he’s looking forward sleeping in his bed. He gets up to his room, opens the door, turns on the light, and freezes. After a moment, Eduardo moves again, closing his door and setting his bag down. Mark’s asleep in his bed and Mark’s laptop is on his desk.

Eduardo’s tired brain tries to figure out a logical reason for it, but gets stuck on wondering how Mark even got into his room. He shrugs off his coat and hangs it on the hook on the door. He looks at Mark on his bed. He’s sort of tangled up in the blanket and wearing Eduardo’s North Face jacket.

“Mark.”

Nothing.

“Mark,” Eduardo says a little louder and more insistent.

Mark wakes abruptly and flails a little, sitting up. The blanket slips and Eduardo realizes that the jacket is the only thing Mark is wearing. Mark quickly resettles the blanket, his face red. Eduardo goes to speak, but stops, unsure of what to say.

“I don’t suppose you could leave the room for a couple of minutes and we could pretend this never happened?” Mark asks, not looking at Eduardo.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“I spilled Red Bull all over my pants and boxers. They’re in the bathroom.”

“That answers one question.”

Mark looks at him with an almost hopeful expression. “I could go put them on.”

“No.”

“What?”

“I think I have a better shot at getting answers with you unable to leave.”

Mark grimaces.

“How did you get in?” Eduardo asks

“Picked the lock, th-“

“Mark!”

“Then when I got tired of that, I got a key using your ID.”

Eduardo brings a hand to his face and then drags it down. “Mark, that could get you thrown out of school.”

Mark shrugs.

“Okay, why did you break into my room?”

Mark’s cheeks go red again and he looks down.

“Maybe you left something in here you needed to get. Repeatedly,” Eduardo says. “Or possibly, Chris and Dustin got back early and were distracting you, even though you have your own room and not much distracts you.”

Mark gives him a weird look. “You want me to lie?”

“No, I’m just trying to come up with a reason that makes sense, but it’s one am and I have been on a couple of long flights, so I’m having a little trouble.”

“What happened? I thought you weren’t back until Sunday.”

“My father had some urgent business out of town and I- Oh, no, you are not going to distract me. Why are you in my room, wearing my jacket?” He pauses. “What, did you miss me?” he asks sarcastically, a little smirk on his face.

Mark drops his eyes.

Eduardo feels his eyes widen in surprise. Mark _missed_ him. Mark, who half the time doesn’t even seem to notice whether Eduardo’s there or not. Eduardo feels a little curl of delight. It’s difficult, sometimes, being friends with someone so emotionally detached. He knows Mark feels things, he just doesn’t show much. And if the feeling is too much, Mark usually removes himself from it.

It’s really nice to know, not just think, that he means something to Mark. And if he doesn’t stop this train of thought, he’ll be in tears soon, overtired and overwhelmed. And Mark will be horrified. Or maybe just confused and uncomfortable. A lot of people have no idea how to handle someone else’s tears and he doesn’t think Mark will either. So, he looks down and rubs his forehead, hiding his eyes until he can compose himself a little. When Eduardo looks up, Mark is looking at him, worried.

“I missed you, too.”

Mark give him a small smile. “Can I go get dressed, now?”

“You break into my room, sleep in my bed, wear my jacket, and you don’t borrow a pair of boxers?”

“That’d be weird.”

“Oh, and the part where you’re half naked in my bed, that’s normal?”

“I’m sure you’ve had plenty of half naked people in your bed before.”

“This bed? Just you.”

Mark looks taken aback. “Really?”

“Why do you seem so surprised?”

“You’re,” Mark says, gesturing a hand up and down to encompass all of Eduardo, “ _you_.”

“Wow, Mark, did you just tell me that you think I’m attractive?” Eduardo asks, teasing.

Mark looks caught out.

“Oh.” Eduardo sits down on the bed next to Mark.

Mark gathers up the blanket around him, looking like he’s getting ready to make a run for the bathroom. “I’m just going to-“

“Wait. I, um, I’ve thought about you. Not in my bed, but at your computer. I’ve thought about what I could do to get your attention. What I could do _to you_ to get your attention.”

Mark settles back down. “You have?”

“I have. Have to admit, though, I never thought I’d find you waiting in my bed half naked.”

“I really should have lost the jacket,” Mark deadpans.

Eduardo laughs.

Mark smiles. They’re really close to each other on the bed. Mark’s face is turned toward him. Eduardo impulsively leans forward and kisses that smile. He pulls back. Mark sucks his bottom lip into his mouth. Eduardo pulls in a sharp breath. Eduardo leans back in and kisses again, coaxing Mark’s bottom lip back out and sucking it into his mouth. He feels Mark’s hands clutch at his shirt. He pulls back again, slowly, letting go of Mark’s lip. He leans his forehead against Mark’s and just breathes for a second.

Eduardo finds the zipper of the jacket, undoes it, and spreads the jacket wide. He runs a finger down Mark’s chest. Mark shivers a little. He peels the jacket off Mark and tosses it on the floor. He gets up off the bed and guides Mark so that he’s lying down. Eduardo kicks off his shoes and climbs on the bed so that he’s kneeling between Mark’s legs. He looks Mark’s naked body up and down. Mark flushes and his hands twitch at his sides. Eduardo puts a hand on Mark’s left hip and leans down. He presses a kiss to Mark’s right hipbone, then scrapes his teeth lightly along it. Mark tenses. Eduardo moves lower and kisses just inside Mark’s thigh and then gives a quick lick. Mark makes a tiny little gasping moan. Eduardo licks his lips and moves so his mouth is right above the slightly bobbing head of Mark’s dick. He breathes and Mark shudders. He licks his lips again and his tongue swipes the tip. He gives tiny licks all over the head, until a hand lands on his head and grips his hair. The hand doesn’t pull or push. 

Eduardo opens his mouth and engulfs the head of Mark’s dick, sucking lightly. He reaches up with a hand and slides a finger in his mouth alongside the head. He gets his finger nice and wet and slides it back out again. He opens his mouth a little wider and lets more of Mark’s dick slide in. He reaches down with his slick finger and presses at Mark’s puckered entrance. He takes a little more of Mark in his mouth and pushes in with his finger. Mark makes a strangled sound. Eduardo pushes his finger all the way in and then bends it just a little, his other hand holding Mark’s hip firmly. Mark jolts. Eduardo does it again and sucks strongly. Mark’s hand in his hair tries to pull him back, but he stays. Eduardo sucks again and Mark comes. Eduardo pulls back a little, trying to get it all and not choke. He finally pulls back completely. He pulls his finger free and Mark makes soft noise. He sits back and looks at Mark. He’s breathing hard and his flush hasn’t died down at all, if anything, it’s is deeper now. 

Eduardo unzips his fly and reaches in, suddenly desperate. He pulls his dick out of his boxer-briefs, grasps it, and pulls a couple of times. Mark sits up and reaches a hand out. Eduardo lets go and lets Mark wrap his hand around Eduardo’s dick. It’s kind of an awkward angle and Mark’s grip is looser than what Eduardo uses, but he finds a rhythm and a few seconds later Eduardo comes in Mark’s hand. Eduardo’s a little lightheaded. He watches Mark bring his hand to his face and give a tentative lick. Mark’s face scrunches up thoughtfully and then he licks again. Eduardo’s dick twitches as he watches Mark clean his hand with his tongue.

When Eduardo thinks he can move without falling over, he tucks his dick back in and zips his fly. He gets up and pulls the sheet and blanket down and then he climbs into bed pulling Mark down with him. Eduardo’s exhausted. He pulls the sheets and blanket back up over them. His clothes will be horribly wrinkled when he wakes up, but he doesn’t care. Mark tries to pull away, but Eduardo wraps his arms around him.

“I just want to put some shorts or something on,” Mark says

“I thought that was weird.”

“Not when you’ve exchanged bodily fluids.”

“Ah. No.”

“What?”

“I like you like this.”

“Me naked while you’re clothed?”

“Yes, you naked. We can fix the me clothed in the morning.”

“But-“

“In the morning.”

“I-“

“In the morning.”

“Okay.”

Eduardo’s really close to drifting off when he remembers something he wanted to know. “Why were you wearing that jacket?”

Mark mumbles something.

“What?”

“Smelled like you.”

There’s a burst of warmth in Eduardo’s chest and he has a blink a bit and swallow hard. He hugs Mark tighter to him and falls asleep with a smile on his face.


	21. Overflowing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=5653318#t5653318%0A): Mark/Eduardo. I want a fic in which, after the depositions (maybe a few months, maybe a few years, maybe a few hours), Eduardo goes to Mark. Because he misses him and can't live his life without him. Mark doesn't track Eduardo down to get him back, Eduardo just gives up. He throws his pride to the wind and goes to FB offices. And from here it can go one of two ways. Either he finds Mark and Mark is elated to see him, but still won't apologize. Eduardo doesn't care because he wasn't expecting anything in the first place. Sexytimes ensue. OR he goes to FB headquarters but before he gets inside, he sees Mark and Sean leaving the building. Sean is half carrying Mark to his car after a super long coding tear. Eduardo thinks they're together/Sean's completely replaced him and goes back to his car, completely heartbroken. Only as he's driving off Mark recognizes his car (even though he's half asleep) and chases him down/calls him/whatever. Just... I want one in which Eduardo goes back to Mark because he simply can't live without him anymore.

Eduardo stares out of the cab window. He’s trying to psych himself up. He can’t not do this. And for the first time in a long time he doesn’t have a plan in a place for afterwards. He has no way to predict how this will go. He’ll beg if he has to.

This has been building for months. Since the depositions, not a day goes by that he doesn’t feel the ache. Up until he saw Mark, up until he sat across from him, he’d been going through the motions, numb. So it hadn’t mattered that Mark wasn’t there because Eduardo wasn’t there either. Then, suddenly, he was alive again and it hurt. At first, Eduardo thought it was just the pain of betrayal, of a friendship scorned. But, as time passed, it seemed to get worse, not better. It took some time for Eduardo to admit to himself that the absence of Mark was causing so much distress.

He finally came to the realization that he wanted Mark back in his life, no matter what Mark had done. Now, he’s on his way to the Facebook offices to find Mark and tell him. He’s tired of being miserable. He’s tired of missing Mark. It’s so impulsive, desperate, coming here with no warning, but it feels like his best chance.

It starts to rain and he almost laughs. How perfect. He hopes he doesn’t run into Sean because he will hit him this time. And that will upset Mark.

~~~

He doesn’t have any trouble getting past the front desk. Apparently, being a shareholder has it’s perks. He heads for Mark’s office. No one seems to pay him much attention. Eduardo can see Mark through the glass walls of his office and the desk that he would assume is Mark’s assistant’s is empty. Eduardo slips into the office. Mark is sitting at his desk, in front of his computer, and wonder of wonders, Mark doesn’t have headphones on.

Eduardo takes a deep breath and just starts talking. “Mark, I need you in my life. It feels like something is missing all the time. I don’t feel whole anymore. I don’t feel like me anymore. Please, Mark, I need you.”

Mark is staring at him. He leans toward his desk and says, “I’m going to call you back, okay Mom?”

“Okay, baby,” says a voice on speaker from the phone on the desk.

A tiny part of Eduardo’s brain is inexplicably charmed by Mark scrunching up his nose at being called baby, but the rest is so unbelievably mortified that he can’t even process. He watches distantly as Mark presses a button on the phone to end the call.

“Oh my God. Oh my God, your mother,” Eduardo blurts out.

“Could’ve been worse.”

“How?” Eduardo asks plaintively.

“I was talking to Oprah earlier.”

Eduardo feels like he’s going to faint. He must look like it too because Mark stands up and sort of reaches out.

“You should sit. I have water, do you want some?” Mark asks.

Eduardo nods and drops, dimly glad there’s a chair there and he didn’t just sprawl out on the floor. Mark fetches a bottle of water, opens it, and hands it over. Eduardo takes a sip and then puts the bottle down.

Mark sits back down at his desk and looks at him curiously. “You’ve been fine without me for awhile now.”

Eduardo can’t believe Mark’s going to make him spell it out. He sighs.

“I’m not trying to humiliate you. I just, I don’t understand,” Mark says.

Eduardo studies him. “Okay. I haven’t been fine. I’ve been pretending. It turns out I’m pretty good at lying to myself.”

Mark gives him a half smile. “Aren’t we all?”

“What do you lie to yourself about?”

“All kinds of things.”

“Huh.”

“What you said, it sounded like more than just wanting me back as a friend.”

“Yeah, I guess it did. And I didn’t even say-“ Eduardo cuts himself off.

“What?”

Eduardo’s gone this far. “I don’t think I can live without you anymore.”

“What do you want?”

Eduardo feels tired and bruised, deep down inside. “I want to be your friend again. I want to make sure you’re eating and sleeping enough. I want to be the person you want to tell when you’ve done something cool. I want to be the person you ask for help. I want to be the first person you think about. I want to matter to you. I want you to notice when I’m not here. I want to be near you. I want to eat with you and drink with you and watch stupid movies with you and play video games with you. I want- I want all of it and more.”

Mark’s got a strange smile on his face. “I’m not going to apologize.”

“I don’t expect you to.”

“Some of that stuff is going to be hard to do from Singapore.”

“I’ll move here.”

Mark blinks. “Really?” he asks, sounding incredulous.

Eduardo’s a little confused. Unexpectly, something from that awful rainy night that was the beginning of the end comes back to him. Mark’s voice saying _I need you out here_. “That night, when I came out here to the house, when you said. Did you mean, were you trying to tell me… I missed it, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.”

“I want you to be my best friend again. And I want to be the person you come home to. I want our lives so entangled that we’ll never be free of each other. I want every part of you. I want to be the person who knows you best. I want to be the last thing you see when you fall asleep and the first thing you see when you wake up.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay, yes. Did you want to move in with me or did you want to find a new place together?”

Now it’s Eduardo’s turn to be incredulous. “Really?”

“Yes. I think-“

Eduardo’s out of his chair and around the desk. He turns Mark’s chair toward him and swoops down and kisses Mark. Mark kisses back. After a minute Eduardo pulls back.

“Maybe we could have a place built. And in the meantime, I could move in with you,” Eduardo says.

“That would work.” Mark smiles. He looks happy. Happy like when Thefacebook was ready to go live.

Eduardo smiles back. There are a million and one things that will have to be worked out, but he finds himself eager for the challenge. He feels whole again. No, better than that, he feels like he’s filled up to overflowing.


	22. Go from Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/3654.html?thread=5633606#t5633606%0A): Mark/Eduardo or [RPF] Jesse/Andrew – Auction. Mark/Jesse agrees to be the subject of an auction for charity. The winning bidder turns out to be Eduardo/Andrew. (Yes, OP was influenced by Jesse's response when he was asked about who is going to be his date for the Oscars.)

Mark is only half listening to Sidney from PR as she lists charity functions. He had promised Chris that he’d try to do more so he says yes to the auction. She looks so taken aback that he replays everything she said in his head. And, ugh, it’s a bachelor auction. He keeps his face impassive, not showing his distaste. But as he thinks about it, well, it probably won’t be as interminable as some of the other events he’s attended. He’ll do the auction and then have, like, a date of some sort, right?

Sidney starts talking about coming up with a few options to present to the committee handling the auction and he nods. She gets more enthusiastic then. She says she’ll come up with a list of suggestions and send it to him. He can choose the ones that he likes and she’ll forward them on to the committee.

~~~

Dustin is ecstatic. He keeps coming up with ridiculous suggestions. Opera? Bird watching? Going to see Steve Jobs’ garage? It’s like he doesn’t know Mark at all. Chris is a bit wary, probably afraid Mark is going to insult his winning bidder. Which is not out of the realm of possibilities. Mark is good at insulting people. Sometimes it’s with intent, but sometimes he doesn’t realize he’s insulted someone until they get that look on their face. People say they want honesty, but actually, they mostly don’t. Or, at least, not that Mark can see.

The list Sidney comes up with is fairly reasonable, but still includes some things that get automatic vetoes. No Alcatraz, he knows it’s a big draw, but no. No wine country or vineyard things, he’s not a big fan of wine and whoever wins the date probably won’t be too impressed by either his observations or his facial expressions. No golf, it just isn’t his game. Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square are okay, if cliché. Same with the Golden Gate bridge. He does like the Exploratorium, though, and Lombard is kind of cool, even if it’s not really the crookedest street. He actually really likes the idea of going to the Winchester Mystery House, even if it doesn’t necessarily seem like a place to take a date. He also doesn’t mind visiting any of the gardens. A lot of the San Francisco attractions will probably play a part in peoples ‘dates’, since the auction is happening there. 

He sends his thoughts back to Sidney and she revises her list and comes up with a couple of date plans and sends it back. He approves it and it gets sent on. Some guy from the committee gets back to him right away, almost gushing about him taking part. He tries to be polite which is easier than usual because he can barely get a word in edgewise. He finds out why the guy was so happy a few days later. There’s a media blitz for the auction with him at the center.

Dustin keeps calling the auction the Billionaire Bachelor Bidding (Mark can always tell when Dustin is capitalizing) and Mark is annoyed. So he changes Dustin’s keyboard layout on his computer without reconfiguring the physical keyboard. It only takes Dustin ten minutes to figure out what happened, but it’s an entertaining ten minutes. Dustin agrees to stop calling it the Billionaire Bachelor Bidding and starts calling it the Awesome Auction Adventure. Mark sighs and lets it go.

The publicity reaches a fever pitch with the publishing of a program with short biographies of the bachelors and a short description of each ‘date’. Among the bachelors there is an astronaut, a neurosurgeon, a vineyard owner, a congressman, an actor, a baseball player, and an Olympic gymnast. It will cost five thousand dollars just to get in the door to bid and the minimum bid for any bachelor is another five thousand dollars.

At least Chris is happy. The auction looks like it might raise upwards of a million dollars and the press seems to be attributing that to Mark’s participation. Mark just wants it to be over already. Chris had already bullied him into getting a tailored suit (Mark had flatly refused to get a tuxedo).

~~~

It’s Friday, the day of the auction and Mark is trying to debug an app code. The application is good and will be useful but it’s got so many bugs in it, it’s driving him crazy. He should just send it back to the developer with a list of things to fix, but it’s making for a good distraction. Not that it can keep him distracted for long with Dustin popping in every few minutes like a demented jack-in-the-box. Dustin has somehow gotten ahold of the list of people who bought seats.

“Dude, dude, Paris Hilton is going to be there. Do you think she’ll bid on you?”

“Dustin-“

“I’ll be back. Hey, wait, do you think Schwarzenegger will show up? That would be awesome. I got to go check something. Be right back.” Dustin walks out.

A few minutes later, Dustin is back. “Mark, Maaaark.”

“What?”

“You think Oprah’s going to be there?”

“Doubtful.”

“It’s for a good cause. She can afford it.” Dustin leaves again.

Dustin comes back in. “Hey, hey, Craig Newmark is going be there.”

“Who? Oh, wait, Craigslist?”

“Yep.” Dustin wanders back out.

Mark puts his head down on his desk for a minute before getting back to the code.

Dustin comes bounding in this time. “Oh my God, oh my God, Paula Abdul is coming.”

“Hmm.”

“Hey, you think she’d do the ‘Opposites Attract’ dance with me?”

“What?”

“I thought that cat was so cool. Of course, I was like six.” Dustin turns to leave, but then turns back. “Hey, Mark, how many people are there to bid and how many are just there to watch do you think?”

“How should I know?”

“I’m just saying there are some, you know, couples showing up. I think it would be weird to bid on someone with your significant other sitting right there.”

“It’s all for charity, Dustin. I don’t think any of the bidders expect more than a few hours of attentiveness.”

“I don’t know about that. Anyway, that one actor from that movie with the thing is going to be there. Wouldn’t it be awesome if he bid on you?”

“Awesome,” Mark says indifferently.

“You’re no damn fun.”

“Maybe no one will bid on me at all.”

“Okay, I know you’re joking, but that would actually be really sad. You don’t think anyone would pay five thousand dollars to go on a date with the second youngest billionaire.”

“You are only the youngest because of me.”

“Still counts.”

“Go away, Dustin.”

Dustin leaves with a jaunty wave.

A few minutes later, there’s a noise by the door. Mark doesn’t even look up. “Dustin, I swear-“

“Hey, Mark,” says Sean’s voice.

Mark looks up. “Hey, Sean. I thought you were in New York.”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“What?”

“What do you mean what? Your auction. This is going to be fun.”

“It’s five thousand a seat.”

“But you can bring someone, right?”

“I’m bringing Chris.”

“Ah, well, I can swing five thousand for such an exciting show. And, hey, maybe I’ll bid.”

“On who?”

“On you, of course.”

“On _me_?”

“Yeah. Wouldn’t that be cool? Wouldn’t that make everybody talk? And as an added bonus, it’ll piss W- someone off.”

“What? Sean, this is for charity.”

“Relax. I’m just looking to stir the pot a little. What’s the worst that could happen – I pay several thousand dollars for an afternoon with you? Oh, yeah, that would suck.”

“Sean-“

“See you later, Mark. I have to go get ready.” Sean gives Mark a smile as he leaves.

Great, as if Mark wasn’t apprehensive enough. Mark saves his work and starts shutting everything down. He lets his mind drift for a few minutes. Someone clears their throat. He looks over and Chris is standing there.

“What’s up?”

“I thought we could go get something quick to eat and then I could drive you home to change.”

“You mean you want to be sure I eat something and that I actually wear the right suit.”

“Wow, it’s like you’ve known me for years.”

Mark looks at Chris and says, “Sean’s going to be there tonight.”

“What?”

“He says he might bid on me.”

“What? Why would he do that?” Chris asks, looking a little alarmed.

“Because he’s Sean,” Mark says as he walks out past Chris.

“Wait, you’re joking, aren’t you? Getting me back for the suit and the sarcasm and not keeping Dustin from annoying you, right? Mark? Mark?”

~~~

Mark is a little bored. He’s with the rest of the bachelors in a big room. Chris is out looking for Sean. Dustin is out there somewhere too. Mark had caught a glimpse of him before one of the committee members had hustled Mark back here. He idly wonders if Dustin has found Paula Abdul and if Chris is maybe going to have to do some damage control there. 

Mark is going be the last bachelor to be auctioned. He probably could’ve waited to arrive. Except the excitable little man who had greeted them probably would’ve had a heart attack if he hadn’t been here when all the bachelors were supposed to be. Mark wanders over to the table they have set up and grabs a bottle of water, careful not to catch the politician bachelor’s eye. That guy has been talking the ear off of anyone who comes near him.

Mark fidgets a little in his suit. He hopes his mom doesn’t see any pictures of him in it. She already thinks he’s too skinny. One of the other guys strikes up a conversation with him. It’s the Olympic gymnast and he’s pretty funny and smart. He asks some not unintelligent questions about Facebook. Mark explains about Farmville and why it’s such a hassle to quit Facebook. The guy’s very laid-back and doesn’t seem at all insulted by Mark. They end up exchanging numbers.

Pretty soon it’s time to start the auction. It only takes a few minutes for each bachelor, but there are thirty of them. Mark is unbelievably bored. Chris took his phone so he couldn’t get caught up in it. Mark finds a piece of paper and a pen and starts working out things to check in the code he was working on earlier. The room empties out around him. Finally, he’s alone and they’re ready for him. He folds up the paper, pockets it, and heads on stage. All he’s supposed to do is stand there. The auctioneer reads a description of the ‘date’ and then starts the bidding. All of the bidders have numbers which they hold up to bid. There are a lot of bidders at first, but then the bid starts going up in increments of five thousand. By the time it’s up to fifty thousand, there are only a few bidders. He thinks that’s probably a respectable bid, although he has no idea what the others went for.

Then Sean’s voice calls out, “Seventy-five.” He’s right up near the front.

Okay, apparently, Chris hadn’t found him. Mark scans the crowd for Chris and can see his exasperated face in the back. He also finds Dustin off to the side, watching with glee. And he thinks he sees someone else he recognizes, but it’s probably just a trick of the light. Except no, that’s Eduardo. Mark stares at him.

Eduardo looks straight back at Mark and calls out, “One hundred thousand.”

The crowd, which had been murmuring quietly, goes silent.

Sean smiles and says, “One hundred fifty.”

The auctioneer and crowd look at Eduardo. He says, “Two hundred.”

The crowd starts to murmur again, louder now. Mark is pretty sure Dustin is laughing. Chris looks like he wants to kill someone.

A woman in the middle calls out, “Two-fifty.”

Everybody looks at her and she shrugs. Mark doesn’t recognize her, but he’s kind of amused.

“Three hundred,” Sean says.

“Four,” Eduardo says.

Someone actually gasps at that. Mark can understand the sentiment.

Sean gives Eduardo a cocky smile and says, “Five.”

Eduardo narrows his eyes at Sean and then looks at Mark. “One million dollars.”

A lot of people gasp at that. Sean shrugs and the auctioneer bangs his gavel. “Sold for one million dollars to number fifty-three. If our lucky bidder will please follow the lady in pink, she will get everything squared away.”

Mark watches as Eduardo’s led from the room. The room explodes in noise when everyone starts talking at a normal volume. Mark is a little shell-shocked. The excitable man comes and tows him off stage. He puts Mark in a small room and tells him to wait there. The man says he’ll bring the winner to Mark so that they can make arrangements.

A few minutes later, Eduardo is shown into the room and they’re left alone. Eduardo looks at Mark. Mark looks back at Eduardo. 

“What was that?” Mark asks.

“That was me doing my part for charity,” Eduardo says.

“No, me participating is for charity. I don’t know what that was, but it didn’t have anything to do with charity.”

“Well, it had a little to do with charity, as I just gave them a million dollars.”

“It wasn’t about charity.”

“No, you’re right. That was about me and Sean… and you.”

And Mark got that, he just doesn’t know why. “Why? We haven’t talked since the settlement.”

“Oh, no, you’re forgetting that thing last year. We bumped into each other, remember? You said ‘Excuse me’ and I said ‘Of course’,” Eduardo says, looking a little rueful.

“We haven’t _talked_ in years.”

“No, we haven’t. I was in New York this past week.”

“Uh, okay,” Mark says, confused.

“I ran into Christy.”

“Did you?”

“She apologized for acting so scary and jealous.”

“Well, good, I guess.” Mark can’t figure out how that relates to anything.

“She also apologized for erasing all those messages from you.”

“Oh.” Mark sits down.

“She said that she didn’t listen to all of them, but the ones she did listen to were all about you asking me to come out to California and how you needed me out here. Telling me about Facebook and how it didn’t need ads.”

“You knew all that. I told you all that,” Mark says, irritated. They’ve been through this.

“You asked me to come out, twice. You said you needed me once and in the same breath told me I was getting left behind.”

“I-“

“As far as I knew, anyway. Did you think I was ignoring you? How many messages did you leave that I never responded to? I thought you were so busy that you didn’t have time to call me, that you didn’t make time to call me.”

“Would it have mattered then? Would you have listened?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. It matters now. It matters that you were trying. And that you didn’t think I was,” Eduardo says and looks at him in question. “You didn’t think I was trying, right?”

Mark gives a curt nod.

“Everything seems different when I look at it now, knowing this.”

“Does it?”

“Christy said she was so jealous of you.”

“Why?”

“I was always, always trying to get your attention. I had entwined my life around yours. Making sure you ate and slept. Giving you algorithms and addresses and money. Anything you needed, I was there for you.”

“Except-“

“Except the last time. I was so stupidly in love with you. Christy and New York were both ways to keep myself from drowning in it, in you. If I had heard those messages, they would’ve worn me down and I would’ve come running to you. Which probably wouldn’t have worked out that well.”

As Mark is reeling from those revelations, there’s a knock on the door. Eduardo goes over and opens it. It’s Chris. “Hey, hi, Eduardo. Mark, they’re starting to clean up. Are you ready to go?”

“I can get him home,” Eduardo says.

Chris looks at Mark. Mark nods at him. Chris gives them both a strange smile and leaves. Eduardo closes the door.

“So, stupidly in love? I, uh, didn’t know,” Mark says, feeling a little stupid himself.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Is that why you were so…” Mark waves his hands a little. “With Sean. Were you jealous?”

“I thought Sean was a manipulative bastard, but, yeah, there was some jealousy there. There’s maybe some still there. He made a point of mentioning the auction and that he was going to bid on you when we ran into each other a couple of days ago.”

“Of course he did. And, wow, he’s going to get his wish. Everybody’s going to be talking about this. Chris is going to have his work cut out for him.”

“Probably.”

“So, now what? Did you want to be friends again? Now that you aren’t in love with me?” Mark trips over the words a little, having a little trouble assimilating everything.

“I _do_ want to be friends again, but I never said I wasn’t in love.”

“You said you _were_ in love with me. Oh, except, you did-“

“Just spend a million dollars just to talk to you. Yeah, I did do that,” Eduardo says with a bit of humor in his voice.

“So, now you have my attention. Now what?”

“Now I ask if we can start over.”

“Start over? I don’t know.”

“I understand if you want time to think about it.”

“No, I just mean I don’t want to start over. I want to go from here. And it happens that I have a kind of amazing date set up.”

“Mark, I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

“Oh, well, okay. I did meet an Olympic gymnast tonight. Maybe he would like to go.”

“What?”

Mark fishes a scrap of paper out of his pocket. “I have his number right here.”

Eduardo snatches the paper from his hand. “No. Fine, we’ll go on the date.”

“Well, now, I want you to be sure.”

“Mark.”

“Wardo.”

“Really?” Eduardo asks hopefully.

“Really,” Mark says as sincerely as he can.

“Okay, let’s go from here.”

 

**Extra Scene:**

Mark picks Eduardo up at his hotel at noon.

“Where are we going?” Eduardo asks.

“Didn’t you listen to the description?”

“Mark, I didn’t care about the _date_.”

“Oh. Well, then, it’s a surprise.”

Mark takes him to the Exploratorium first. Eduardo seems kind of uncertain at first, but then he gets into it with the enthusiasm of a child. There are all kinds of kids running around. Mark likes it here because, sometimes, he can see on their faces the same thing he felt when he first got a computer to do what he wanted. Mark is partial to the exhibits in _The World of Matter_ , but Eduardo seems drawn to the _Mind_ exhibits. They spend almost three hours there. Eduardo seems a little disappointed to leave. Mark’s glad that he enjoyed it.

Mark drives them down to San Jose. He gets them to the Winchester House.

“What is this place? It’s really pretty.”

“You’ve never heard of the Winchester Mystery House.”

“I don’t think so.”

“After the deaths of her daughter and husband, Sarah Winchester supposedly talked to a spiritualist who told her she was haunted and that she might be next, but if she moved west and built a big house and didn’t stop, the spirits would be appeased.”

“That’s kind of sad.”

“Yeah, but she had construction going continuously for 38 years.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and some people say it’s haunted.”

“Really?” Eduardo looks a little bit alarmed by that.

They take the tours of both the estate and the house. Eduardo sticks close to Mark, especially when their guide talks about haunting. He seems as fascinated as Mark is with all the architectural oddities. He’s particularly intrigued with the Switchback Staircase. Mark feels weirdly happy just to be around Eduardo and have it not be fraught with tension. Eduardo seems to feel the same, smiling every time Mark catches his eye.

Next, they head to Overfelt Gardens and wander around until sunset. Eduardo takes his hand as they walk in the Chinese Cultural Garden. It gives Mark an odd, almost fluttery, feeling in his chest. It’s really peaceful here.

“It’s nice here,” Eduardo says.

“Yeah, it’s a really nice park,” Mark says, looking out over it.

“I meant California.”

“I like it.”

“Yeah, it’s growing on me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I’m thinking I might be wanting to spend more time here. A lot more time.”

“Kind of a long flight from Singapore.”

“Yeah, about that, I was thinking that maybe it’s time for me to come back to the States.”

Mark turns and looks at him.

Eduardo shrugs a little. “I mean, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Gee, Wardo, I don’t know, it’s not like I ever wanted you out here,” Mark says sarcastically.

Eduardo laughs. “Shut up.”

Mark laughs and then sobers. He takes a deep breath and says, “Come back.”

“Okay,” Eduardo says.


	23. I’m Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/4426.html?thread=5953098#t5953098): Mark/Eduardo. Either Mark or Eduardo has a severe car accident (any other kind of life-threatening situation works for this, too) and while he waits for help, barely conscious, and thinks he's going to die he calls the other. 1.) Because who would want to die alone? And 2.) because he just can't die without making it right ... (Happy ending is preferred ...)

Eduardo wakes up to the ringing of his phone. The alarm clock by the bed reads 2:52 am. He’s only been asleep for a couple of hours, the jet lag and time difference playing havoc with his sleep schedule. He groggily feels around on the nightstand until he locates his phone.

“Hello.”

“W- Wardo.”

_Mark._ Suddenly, Eduardo’s wide awake. Mark hasn’t actually called him in years. They’ve just, in the last few weeks, started tentatively emailing each other. It took a long time for Eduardo to mean the pleasant greetings he gave Mark when they crossed paths. The last few months have been much better, though, time smoothing over the rough edges of his pain. They’ve been able to talk, actually talk, for a few minutes, at least, at the various functions they’ve both attended. But now, out of the blue, Mark’s calling. Eduardo tells himself to calm down, there’s probably nothing wrong. He doesn’t remember if he let Mark know he was going to be in New York this week and it’s three in the afternoon in Singapore. Maybe Mark’s just taking another step.

“Mark, I’m sorry. I’m in New York and it’s three am, can I call you back after I get some sleep?”

“No, no, don’t, don’t, don’t hang up,” Mark says, sounding odd.

“Mark, are you drunk?”

“Drunk? No, no, no. Wardo, I…” Mark trails off into silence.

“Mark, are you- Where are you?”

“I can’t- Don’t know.”

“You, you don’t know?” Eduardo asks, confused and beginning to feel a little panicked again.

“The road is up there.”

“What? Mark, why are you calling me?”

“You were in the phone. My head hurts.”

“Are you sure you’re not drunk? Maybe you should go lie down.”

“Can’t move.”

“What do you mean you can’t move?”

“The dashboard. Seatbelt.”

“You’re not making much sense. Are you in your car?”

“Yes, in my car.”

“Dashboard…” Eduardo says, trying to figure out what that means. Oh, God. “Mark, are you okay? Are you hurt? Has there been a car accident?”

“Yes,” Mark says, sounding relieved, like he was waiting for Eduardo to figure it out. “There was a car in the wrong lane, I tried to move over, I went too far, caught the railing,” he says, sounding a little more coherent as he finishes.

“God, Mark. Is there someone there? Is someone getting help?” Eduardo feels frantic, adrenaline pouring through his system.

“No. I’m alone.”

“Okay, okay, um, is the GPS on? Does it say where you are?” 

It takes a few moments before Mark rattles off some numbers and Eduardo writes them down.

“Okay, hold on,” Eduardo says to Mark. He holds his cell against his chest. He takes a deep breath and picks up the hotel land line and calls Chris, his voice shaking a little. It takes a minute for Chris to understand what Eduardo’s telling him and then, thankfully, Chris goes into his competent, able-to-handle-anything mode. Eduardo hangs up with Chris, feeling the tiniest bit better. Chris will find Mark and get him help.

Eduardo holds the cell back up to his ear. “Okay, Mark, I called Chris. He’s going to get someone out to you as fast as he can, okay?”

“Do you remember that night on the roof, when you explained Nor’easters?”

It takes Eduardo a second to change gears. “Um, yeah, I do. I didn’t know you did, though.”

“I remember a lot of things.”

Eduardo’s not sure what’s going on in Mark’s head, but if it’ll keep him talking until help gets there, he’ll go along. “Oh, yeah?”

“I never liked Sean better than you, you know,” Mark says, sounding contemplative.

“What?”

“I never liked anyone better than you. Not even Sam.”

Eduardo’s confused and worried. “Who’s Sam?”

“Sam. Samantha Jones. She didn’t like being called Samantha and she hated being called Sammie. She had kind of red and kind of brown hair. And kind of green and kind of brown eyes. She was always in between.”

“Um, okay.”

“She was my best friend when I was twelve. She was my first kiss, my first girlfriend.”

“That’s sweet, Mark.”

“Ugh, Wardo. It was… good. The she had to go. And then I didn’t have a best friend until college.”

“Oh.”

“I liked you best.”

Eduardo swallows against the lump in his throat. “I liked you, too, Mark. I still like you, even if it goes against my better judgment sometimes.”

“That’s good.”

Eduardo laughs a little.

“I miss you, you know. It’s stupid. You were mad at me longer than we were friends,” Mark says.

“I, I guess so. I miss you, too, Mark.”

“You should have come out to California. I needed you. You didn’t need me, though.”

“Mark-“

“No, no, never mind. I won’t- I wish, no, doesn’t matter. Can’t go back, only forward.”

“I, yeah, forward.”

“Wardo?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let Dustin do anything crazy, huh? He always wants to do something that’s a little bit too much. Don’t let him, okay?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m leaving it to you.”

“Leaving what?”

“Facebook. It’ll be yours. You can do what you want with it. It’s done some really good things, Wardo.”

“I know it has. Wait, what do mean it’ll be mine? Mark, you are not dying, do you hear me?”

“Sure, Wardo, that’s the way it works,” Mark says and gives a little a laugh. “Ow.”

“Mark, what hurts?”

“Not much hurts now.”

“Mark,” Eduardo says and his voice sounds broken. “Mark, dammit, you’re the most stubborn man alive, you can’t just-“

“Do you think you could forgive me, Wardo?”

“I, I-“

“It’s okay, you don’t have-“

“Yes, I could forgive you. But you have to ask in person, do you hear me, Mark? You have to ask me in person.”

“Wardo,” Mark says quietly.

“Mark, did you hear me?”

There’s only silence on the line.

“Mark! Mark, say something! You asshole, wake up,” Eduardo yells, tears in his eyes. “Mark, please. You can’t. I love you, do you hear me? Please, Mark, don’t.” Eduardo pulls in a sobbing breath. The tears start to fall. He can hear something on the line, in the distance. “Mark?”

The call waiting beeps, startling him. He looks at his phone. It’s Chris’ number. He clicks over. “God, Chris.”

“We found him, Wardo. They’re getting stuff down to his car now.”

“Down?”

“Yeah, he’s- The car is at the bottom of a hill.”

“Tell them to hurry, he stopped talking a minute ago.”

“They’re hurrying. Eduardo, are you okay?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to go book a flight. I’ll be out there as soon as I can. Can you let me know what’s going on, as soon as you know?”

“Yeah, of course, I’ll leave messages, if you don’t pick up.”

“If, if he-“

“He won’t. He’s going to be fine. Text me your flight details when you get everything set up.”

“Okay. Chris-“

“He’s going to be fine.”

“Yeah, he’s going to be fine. Bye, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Wardo.”

~~~

Eduardo cancels all of his engagements in New York while he’s waiting to board his flight because he needs something to do to keep him from breaking down. He’s pretty sure they wouldn’t let him on the plane if he started yelling and throwing things. He talks to Chris just before he boards and Mark is on the way to the hospital. Chris says he doesn’t know how badly Mark is injured. Eduardo can’t tell if he’s telling the truth or holding back so Eduardo doesn’t freak out.

Eduardo spends most of the time looking at his watch and fidgeting. He’s making the flight attendant nervous, so he tells her that a friend was in a bad accident and he’s flying to see him. His voice breaks a little as he says it. The sympathetic look she gives him is almost worse than the nervous one she had before, but at least she doesn’t look like she wants to get an Air Marshal.

Eduardo concentrates on not thinking about Mark. Whatever is happening, worrying can’t help. He tries to think about his portfolio, but that just brings him to Facebook. He tries thinking about the presentation he was supposed to give, until he thinks about why he’s not there. He tries thinking about the weather and suddenly he’s up on that roof, talking about pressure and rotation, Mark giving him a half-amused, half-fond smirk. _Dammit, Mark._

Once they’ve landed, the second they are allowed to turn on their phones, he does. There’s a couple of messages from Chris. They boil down to: Mark’s alive and Mark’s in surgery.

He texts Chris. _Just landed. Mark?_

Chris texts back. _He’s out of surgery. Doctor says outlook is good. Dustin’s waiting for you._

Eduardo blows out a breath in relief. He texts back. _Thanks._

Dustin is waiting for him. He hugs Eduardo the second he spots him. Eduardo hangs on a little longer than he normally would.

“Hey, Wardo.”

“Hey, Dustin.”

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

“Come on.”

Dustin leads him out to a car with a driver. They get in and the car pulls away.

“Dustin, do you know- How did it happen?”

“Uh, yeah. There was a drunk driver and he was in the wrong lane. Which we know because he plowed into a tree about five miles from Mark’s car and he confessed to an officer later. I guess Mark tried to get out of the way and the beginning of the railing kind of acted like a ramp. He flipped and rolled down this hill. The car is just… They had to cut Mark out of it.”

“What- How badly was he hurt?”

“Okay, so, you have to remember that he’s doing fine, now.”

“Dustin.”

“There was some internal bleeding. His spleen. If they hadn’t found him when they did…”

“But they did. They didn’t have to remove it, did they?”

“No, they were able to repair it. He hit his head and has a mild concussion. His left collarbone and some ribs are bruised. Actually, he’s kind of one big bruise. His right ankle is broken and his right knee was dislocated. It hurts just looking at him.”

Eduardo swallows a couple of time. He can’t think about Mark in that car, alone and in pain. “But he’s okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, his prognosis is good. So, um, I know things between you two have been a lot better recently.”

“Yeah.”

“Mark will be glad to see you.”

“I hope so.”

They’re silent for a couple of moments.

“He told me not to let you do anything crazy. With the company,” Eduardo says, surprising himself.

“Crazy like what? He knows I was just kidding about the dinosaur theme. Wait, wait, did he think…”

“Yeah. Told me he was leaving Facebook to me.”

“He would do that. Smart bastard, I bet he knows you would do everything you could to run it like him.”

“That… sounds like Mark.”

And suddenly, they’re laughing. It’s such a release.

Dustin sobers up. “I’m pretty sure he would leave it to you even if you wanted to dismantle it.”

“No, no. He’d leave it to me because I wouldn’t do that, because he knows it means something to me.”

“Okay, yeah.”

~~~

They get to the hospital and get a little more information from Chris. Mark’s asleep again. He’d woken up earlier and his doctor had checked him out. The doctor had been cautiously optimistic. Eduardo goes into Mark’s room and sits down in the chair beside his bed. Mark looks awful – pale and still and bruised. Eduardo puts his hand gently over Mark’s.

“So, um, I’m here. And Chris says your mom’s flying in,” Eduardo says quietly. “I don’t know if you held on because of what I said or just because you’re you, but I’m so glad. And I’m grateful. Grateful that you’re alive, grateful you aren’t hurt worse, although this is bad enough. I think there’s a lot of stuff we need to say to each other.”

Mark makes a humming noise.

“Mark?”

Mark’s eyes blink open. “Wardo?”

“Hey. You okay? Want me to get a nurse or something?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Are you hurting?”

Mark grunts. “I thought you were in New York.”

“That was awhile ago. I flew out as soon as I could.”

“Oh. Hey, you’re here. In person.”

“You heard that, huh?”

“Do you forgive me?”

“I do.”

Mark smiles. “I thought I heard something else. Did you- No, never mind.”

Eduardo looks at Mark, thinks about all the things they’ve left unsaid, all the times they misunderstood each other. “I love you,” he says simply.

Mark’s eyes widen. “I- You- Too, me, too. I mean-“

“I got it.”

Mark’s hand turns over under Eduardo’s and he curls his fingers around Eduardo’s. Eduardo squeezes gently and smiles at him.

~~~

Mark’s stuck in the hospital for awhile, mostly due to an infection. Eduardo spends as much time as he can with him, rebuilding their relationship. It feels familiar and new at the same time. They aren’t the same people as when they met, but there’s a lot that’s still the same. When he’s not at the hospital with Mark, Eduardo’s in the process of moving his business to California. It’s a big leap, but Eduardo wants this to work so he’s going to give it everything he can.

Thankfully, it goes fairly smoothly. It’s tiring, making the transition and still being there for Mark. Mark’s not a model patient, but he’s trying, for Eduardo, he’s trying. Mark’s pain medication makes him unfocused, which he hates. He gets tired so easily. Eduardo knows how frustrated he is and it’s sweet how hard he tries not to show it.

~~~

“Hey, I hear you’re getting sprung today,” Eduardo says.

“Yes, finally,” Mark grumbles.

“Good.”

“Yeah. I wonder if I pay Ben enough to move in and help me out.”

“Your assistant? Probably not. Why do you need him to?”

“My doctor wants me to take it easy and for someone to be around for the next couple of weeks.”

“I thought I could do that.”

“Don’t you have to go back to Singapore?”

“Actually, I don’t. I just signed a lease for some offices in Sunnyvale. And my apartment’s been packed up and all my stuff’s being shipped here.”

“You’re moving? Here?”

“No, I’m kidding. I think we’d be awesome at a long distance relationship,” Eduardo says dryly.

“But, really?”

“Yeah, really. I’m here.”

“For me?”

“And for me.”

“So, you’re moving in with me, right?”

“Temporarily, to help you out. After that, we’ll see. I may need my own space.”

Mark laughs and quickly turns it into a cough.

“What?” Eduardo asks.

“Do you have any idea how much time you spent in our suite, in my room, at Harvard? And you had a single, with your own bathroom – that’s like the Holy Grail of dorm rooms.”

“I didn’t spend that much time in your room.”

“Dustin made a pie chart. Percentage-wise, you spent twice as many of your waking hours in our suite, mostly my room, as you did in your room and you spent a lot of your sleeping hours in my room, too.”

“He made a chart?”

“With eye-bleedingly bright colors.”

“I liked spending time with you,” Eduardo admits a bit bashfully.

“I liked you being there. Most of the time.”

“Oh, Mark, you’re so romantic.”

Mark frowns. “Do you want me to be? Romantic, I mean. I could try.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you tried to be a little more thoughtful, a little more considerate of my feelings. But, really, for the most part, it might be a better idea to leave the romance part up to me.”

“Alright.”

~~~

Eduardo’s first romantic act leaves Mark sulking. Eduardo had always wanted to carry someone over the threshold. Of course, he hadn’t wanted it to be because that someone was in pain and having a hard time with their crutches. He leaves Mark on the couch and checks out the house. Chris and Dustin had moved Mark’s stuff into the guest bedroom downstairs next to his office so he wouldn’t have to deal with the stairs.

They slowly learn how to live with each other. Mark’s injuries mean they have to go slow in other ways too. They can’t even sleep together, just sleep, at first. They try, but Eduardo accidentally jars Mark’s ankle and he goes white. After that, Eduardo is even more careful of Mark, which just irritates Mark. They have a few fights and they learn how to fight without going too far.

Eduardo sets up a temporary office in the dining room for those first couple of weeks, not wanting to be too far away if Mark needs him. Sadly, Mark was right about Eduardo not needing his own space. As a matter of fact, Eduardo has to keep himself from checking on Mark too often. He finds he wants to be in any room that Mark is.

Mark heals up enough to start going into the office. He has shorter days (only eight to ten hours) for awhile. Eduardo’s business actually does very well in it’s new location, his client base growing. It takes some time to settle into a routine, but they get there.

Eduardo never does look for a place of his own. They don’t even really have the discussion. Eduardo moves most of his things into Mark’s house. They donate some things to make room. And then it’s not Mark’s house, it’s theirs.

Eduardo doesn’t go much beyond handjobs and blowjobs until Mark’s out of his cast, even though Mark gets impatient. There are a few sponge baths, though. The day Mark gets out of his cast, they end up having sex in the front hall. Eduardo gets a rug burn on his ass, but he can’t stop smiling.

Mark’s knee is never quite the same. Everything else seems to heal up completely, but his knee occasionally gives him problems. Mark doesn’t let it slow him down, but Eduardo can read him even better than he could before, can tell by the way Mark holds himself that it’s been giving him trouble. Sometimes, Eduardo does a very careful massage, which seems to help. Mark doesn’t like to ask, though, so when he does, Eduardo knows how bad it is.

Mark doesn’t really talk about the accident. Eduardo doesn’t really like to think about it, so he doesn’t push. Mark seems almost indifferent towards it. It takes a long time before Eduardo asks why.

“You never seem angry about it, the accident.”

“No.”

“Why not? That guy, he could have killed you.”

“He didn’t.”

“But he could have.”

“It sucked. It was painful and scary. But, I got you back, so…” Mark shrugs.

“Wow. Okay, apparently I was wrong.”

“About what?”

“Leaving the romance up to me. You’re pretty good at the romantic declaration thing, in your own way.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, yeah, you are.”


	24. To Make Mark His

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/4426.html?thread=6308682#t6308682%0A): Mark/Eduardo. May we have some possessive and jealous as fuck Eduardo in this meme? Post-film pls.

Eduardo watches Mark surreptitiously from across the room. Eduardo shouldn’t come to these things, not the ones he knows Mark’s going to attend. He can’t help himself though. He supposes it could be a form of masochism, torturing himself, wanting what he can’t have.

There are always people there who want to talk to Mark, who, for all his faults, is very smart, very rich, and very successful. Eduardo can always tell when someone’s hitting on Mark. He knows what a rush it can be getting the focus, the attention, of someone so emotionally distant. He doesn’t blame anyone for wanting to have that. Mark generally doesn’t respond. Mark likes smart and if you can’t show that to him, he’s not really that interested. Every once in awhile, though, Mark will give a woman a look that’s speculative. And Eduardo will know that Mark’s attracted. It makes Eduardo grind his teeth, but he can stand it, barely. Because he knows Mark will never look at him like that. Mark’s never looked at any guy like that, at least not that Eduardo’s seen, and he’s watched very closely.

Eduardo spent a lot of time waiting for Mark to see, to notice, and he never did. There was a time when Eduardo had thought that Mark and Sean had maybe… And he’d hated Sean, but there was a small part of him that had thought maybe Eduardo had had a chance then. But, well, other stuff had happened.

Now, Eduardo and Mark aren’t even friends. Mark gives him a sort of acknowledging nod when he sees him. Eduardo gives him one back. They haven’t talked in years. And still, Eduardo wants.

As Eduardo watches, Mark starts to smile, which is odd. And there’s Sean. He’s not usually at these things, thank God. Somehow he still gets under Eduardo’s skin like nothing else. It gets worse as he watches, though. Sean’s touching Mark. Familiarly, possessively. Like he has the right. Sean says something in Mark’s ear and Mark laughs. Eduardo’s blood boils. Sean heads off and Mark turns to leave. Eduardo wonders if they’re going to meet later. He doesn’t think as he makes his excuses and follows after Mark.

Mark gets in a car with a driver and Eduardo gets in his car and follows Mark home. When the car pulls up to Mark’s house, Eduardo parks down the street. He waits until the driver has left and gets out of his car. He catches Mark at his door, just putting the key in.

“Hello, Mark.”

Mark turns, startled. “Wa- Eduardo?”

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

Mark looks at him for a second and then shrugs. He opens the door and gestures Eduardo in. Eduardo walks in and Mark follows, closing the door behind them. Mark steps up to a keypad in the hall and enters something. He turns and looks at Eduardo.

“Are you sleeping with him?” Eduardo asks, unable to stop himself.

“What?”

“Sean. Are you sleeping with him? _Were_ you sleeping with him, back then?”

Mark furrows his brow. “How is that any of your business?”

“It was supposed to be me. All those times when you never noticed. But you never noticed any guy, so it was fine. No, not fine, but bearable. And now, you and _him_ , of all people. It was supposed to be _me_.”

Eduardo crowds up to Mark. And Mark doesn’t step away, doesn’t back down. He never did. Mark lifts his chin stubbornly as Eduardo comes closer. Eduardo kisses him, pouring all his longing and frustration into it. Mark just stands there, not pushing him away, but not participating either. Eduardo feels defeat well up in him, but just as he’s about to pull away and leave, humiliated, Mark’s mouth opens. Eduardo pushes in, explores every bit of it. If this is his only chance, he’s going to take it. The kiss goes on and on, Eduardo feasting on Mark’s mouth and Mark letting him. When he finally pulls back, they’re both breathing hard.

“My bedroom’s upstairs,” Mark says.

Eduardo blinks at him, shocked. He quickly recovers and grabs Mark in a rough kiss. He pulls back again and says, “Show me.”

Mark leads him up to a bedroom. As soon as they get in the room, Eduardo’s on Mark, kissing him, nipping at his neck. He strips Mark out of his suit and sheds his own as swiftly as he can. He gets Mark up on the bed and strokes at the skin laid bare to him. He licks at Mark’s mouth. He wants to lick every part of Mark. So he tries, stopping to suck any time Mark makes any sort of noise. He wants to mark him, he wants Mark to feel Eduardo. He wants to be the only person that Mark remembers and he wants Mark to remember with every inch of his body.

He’s mouthing at Mark’s hip bones and licking at the insides of his thighs, teasing Mark. Mark is flushed and panting, his eyes dark. It’s something that Eduardo’s wanted for so long, something that he’s dreamt of, longed for. Mark’s always been attractive to him, his bright blue eyes, his sharp features, the intelligence that burns in him. But now, like this, he’s stunning. Eduardo wants to watch, he wants to touch, he wants to make Mark his.

“Do you have anything?” Eduardo asks.

“What?” Mark asks, distracted.

“Do you have anything? Lube? Condom?”

Mark points toward the nightstand. Eduardo opens the drawer and finds a tube of KY and after a few seconds, a condom. He drops them on the bed next to Mark. He pushes up Mark’s legs. He brushes a finger lightly over Mark’s entrance. Mark shivers. Eduardo ducks down and licks at it.

Mark’s shocked voice asks, “What are you-“

Eduardo cuts him off with another lick. He’s a little surprised that Sean’s never done this. Well, Eduardo will just have to show Mark exactly how good this can be. He licks again and then pushes his tongue against Mark’s hole. He does it again and again until Mark relaxes a bit and lets him in. He pushes his tongue inside as Mark makes the most amazing noise. He moves his tongue in tiny little thrusts, making Mark grunt. He keeps at it until Mark writhes on the bed. It’s wet and sloppy and Eduardo loves it. He finally pulls away and wipes at his mouth. 

He grabs the KY and slicks up his fingers. He pushes one in smoothly, watching Mark’s face now. Mark frowns a little. He’s so tight, even with the rimming. Eduardo pulls his finger out and pushes back in with two. Mark grimaces. Eduardo crooks his fingers inside. Mark jerks and closes his eyes. They pop back open when Eduardo does it again. He looks straight at Eduardo and bites his lip. Eduardo leans up over Mark, kissing him while he crooks his fingers again. Mark moans into his mouth. Eduardo pulls his fingers out and pushes in with three. Mark tenses and bites down hard on Eduardo’s lip. Eduardo pulls away from his mouth. He stretches at Mark’s hole, still so tight, until Mark loses some of his strain. 

Eduardo pulls his fingers free and finds the condom. He opens up the packet and rolls it on himself. He slicks up his dick and gets himself lined up. He pushes and the head pops in. Mark makes a soft whining noise in his throat. Eduardo takes a deep breath. Mark’s so hot and tight, he just wants to shove in and come. He pushes slowly, smoothly, sliding all the way in. Mark’s hands wrap around his shoulders, his nails digging in. Eduardo goes for a kiss again, licking at Mark’s distressed frown until he lets him inside. Eduardo doesn’t move until Mark relaxes a little. Then he begins to thrust. He watches Mark’s face as he angles his thrusts until he finds an angle that makes Mark shudder. He thrusts harder. He’s not going to last very long. He reaches between them and grasps hold of Mark’s dick, pulling at it a little roughly. Mark gives a little cry and comes. He spasms around Eduardo and that’s it for Eduardo. After a few long moments, Eduardo pulls gently out of Mark. Mark gives a soft little, “Oh.”

Eduardo discards the condom and cleans up a little. He lies back on the bed. After a few minutes, he turns to Mark, not sure what to say. Mark’s asleep. Eduardo watches him for awhile and then gets up. He pulls the covers up over Mark and gets dressed. He looks at Mark once more before leaving.

~~~

Eduardo doesn’t go to the next event. He’s sort of appalled with himself. He had no idea he was so possessive. He’d always known that he hadn’t liked to share Mark. He’d known he was jealous of Sean. And he’d known how much he’d wanted, how much he wants, Mark, but the way it had come out… 

But Eduardo can’t help himself, so the next gala, he’s there. He watches Mark the whole time. It’s worse somehow, now that he knows. Mark catches his eye and Eduardo has to leave before he goes up and hauls him off, gets him into some corner alone.

The following event, however, Sean’s there again. And he’s all over Mark. Eduardo watches, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. As soon as Sean walks off, Eduardo is over at Mark’s side. Mark looks at him impassively.

“You should go home,” Eduardo says.

“Why?”

Eduardo leans in and whispers in his ear, “Because I really don’t think these people need to watch as I go down on you.”

Mark looks at him with wide eyes.

“You should go now,” Eduardo says, letting the back of his hand brush up against Mark’s fly as he moves past him.

Mark nods and leaves the room.

Eduardo follows him home again. This time, Mark’s waiting inside with the door open. Eduardo comes in and closes the door. He gets Mark up against the wall and his fly open. He pulls out Mark’s dick and sucks it down, using every trick he’s ever learned. Mark comes in a few seconds and looks at him, dazed. Eduardo grabs his arm and pulls him up to his bedroom. Eduardo makes it his mission to see how many times he can get Mark to orgasm, competing with the specter of Sean in his head. Eduardo falls asleep without quite meaning to.

The next morning is awkward. Eduardo doesn’t know what to say so he doesn’t say anything. Mark watches him get dressed and leave. Mark looks upset, but Eduardo can’t ask him why. He thinks it’s because of Sean. He doesn’t know what their relationship is like, if it’s just casual and they see other people or if it’s more serious than that. And he doesn’t want to know. No, he desperately wants to know, but he’s afraid of the answer.

~~~

He stays away for months, until he can’t bear it. He imagines Mark with Sean all the time now. And his imagination has so much to work with now that he’s seen Mark naked. Now that’s he’s seen Mark with swollen lips and bite marks and little bruises from being held too tightly. Now that he’s seen what he looks like when he comes. It’s all too easy to imagine.

There’s a thing that Mark almost has to be at, in New York. Sean shouldn’t be there. Eduardo goes, earlier than he usually does. He makes the rounds and waits for Mark to show up. And, of course, Mark walks in with Sean. Eduardo stares at Sean’s hand on Mark’s shoulder. Eduardo squares himself up and goes over to them.

Sean notices him first and says, “Well, Eduardo Saverin, long time, no see.”

Mark looks a little panicked.

“Parker,” Eduardo says coolly, inclining his head. He turns to Mark and smiles. “Hello, Mark. I haven’t seen you in some time. I hope you’ve been well.”

Mark searches his face for something. He looks like he’s trying to figure out what Eduardo wants. “I’ve been fine.”

“Good to know,” Eduardo says, patting Mark on the side and slipping his extra keycard into Mark’s pocket.

Mark looks up at him in question.

“We should talk later,” Eduardo says.

Mark gives a curt nod.

Eduardo gives them both a wave and a smile as he heads off to find a drink or five. Half an hour later, he’s pleasantly buzzed. Maybe now he can handle watching them together. He looks around, but can only locate Sean. Mark is nowhere to be found. After a while, he gives up and leaves for his hotel, hoping that Mark will show up there later.

But when he opens the door to his hotel room, Mark is already there, sitting on the loveseat. Eduardo lets the door close. Eduardo pulls off his jacket and hangs it on the back of a chair and then yanks off his tie, dropping it on the floor.

“War- Eduardo, we should-“

That’s as far as he lets Mark get before he pulls him up and into a kiss. He pushes Mark’s suit jacket off his shoulders and lets it drop to the floor. Eduardo kisses him and nudges him over and then walks him backwards until they’re at the bed. He pushes Mark down on the bed and climbs on top of him. He gets his mouth back on Mark’s. Sean’s smug face flashes up in his mind. He licks at Mark’s tongue, but can’t banish Sean. He pulls back and rolls off of Mark to lie next to him. He sighs.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t. You and Sean, whatever’s going on between you, I hate it, but I can’t do this anymore,” Eduardo says to the ceiling.

“Oh, um, we’re not-“

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not serious, I can’t share you. I won’t.”

“I’m not sleeping with Sean.”

Eduardo turns his head to look at Mark. “What?”

“I’ve never slept with Sean.”

“But-“

“You know, it’s funny, Sean told me, way back, that you were jealous of him, that you wanted me. I didn’t believe him. Why would you be jealous of something you never even tried for? Besides, you had Christy and you wouldn’t come out to California. I only thought it might be true after you almost hit him. But I couldn’t exactly ask after that.”

Eduardo’s silent for a few moments, digesting that. “Why did you let me think you were with him?

“Sean said-“

Eduardo groans and Mark gives him a look.

“Sean said that you were watching me. He thought you still wanted me. He said he could prove it. He said the second that you saw him with me, you’d do something. I thought he was full of shit. Then you showed up at my house and you kissed me. You hadn’t talked to me in years and there you were and you did want me. But only if Sean also had me.”

Eduardo says, “That’s not-“ and then breaks off. It did kind of look that way. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I met you.”

“I called you an idiot the first time we met.”

“But you also said I wasn’t nearly as stupid as most of the other students.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t think you were into guys. Then Sean came along…”

“So now what? Now that you know I’m not with Sean, do you still…” Mark trails off, but the _want me?_ is as clear as if he’d actually said it.

“Mark, I’ve always wanted you. I will probably always want you. But I want more than your body, I want more than just sex. I want you and I can’t share you.”

“What about Facebook?”

“Ah, yes, your creation. Something that won’t ever let you down or have confusing emotions, something that’s always been there for you and will never hurt you. I know it’s way more than just work to you. I’m glad that you recognize that it might be an issue. I don’t know. Is there room in your life for both it and me?”

“I’d like to think so, but can you handle it?”

“As long as you don’t have sex with the damn thing, I think we’re good.”

Mark laughs at him and then sobers. “What about Sean? He’s still going to be around. He’s just a friend, but you never liked him.”

“I’ll figure out a way to deal with it, with him. So, we’re going to try this, right?”

“Um, first, before anything, I want to say I’m sorry that I hurt you. I didn’t, it wasn’t my intention, but that’s what happened and I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t mean much, but there it is.”

“It actually means a lot. It means a lot,” Eduardo says, his voice a little choked up. “Did I, did I hurt you? I didn’t think so at the time, but later when I looked back, it felt like you were hurt, too. If I did, I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, Wardo,” Mark says and there’s a soft, fond look in his eyes. “I think, I think we’re going to try this.”

Eduardo smiles at him and Mark smiles back. And then Eduardo thinks of something and stops smiling.

“What?” Mark asks.

“I’m going to have to thank Sean, aren’t I?” Eduardo asks, disgruntled.

Mark laughs.


	25. Figure Something Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/4426.html?thread=7510858#t7510858%0A): Eduardo/Mark. Okay, this is such a cliché, but whateverr... You know these movies where people get stuck in burning buildings? And then the dashing hero comes and saves them, carrying them bridal style? Umm. yeah. Can we get a post!deposition, still angry Eduardo (preferably not too long after), who somehow (I don't really care how) has to save Mark, and really worries and angsts, and this makes him realize his feeling...

Eduardo is annoyed. He doesn’t love these events, but they do give him the chance to network. Really, honestly, the problem is Mark. Not that Mark is bothering him, per se. Well, no, Mark always _bothers_ him now. Even if it’s just by Eduardo thinking about him. But what Eduardo is annoyed about right now, what’s irritating him, is that Mark is going out of his way to avoid Eduardo, just as he’s done at the other two events that they’d both attended since the settlement. Like Mark is the one who’s angry with Eduardo, like he has any right to be.

If anyone should be avoiding anyone, Eduardo should be avoiding Mark. Eduardo’s perfectly prepared to suck it up and be civil to Mark. And maybe he wants the chance to show Mark how little he cares about Mark. He’s learned how to layer politeness over contempt and he wants to use it on someone besides Sean Parker. Seriously, how is it that Sean will come up to him at one of these things, but Mark leaves the immediate vicinity as soon as he catches sight of Eduardo.

Eduardo mingles, drifting from group to group. He stops to talk to acquaintances, a smile for everyone. This is something he knows well, does well. All the while, he keeps an eye out for Mark. He finally catches a glimpse of Mark heading out into the hall. He quickly excuses himself and follows. He gets to the hall. The building is old and beautiful and kind of has a maze of hallways. He turns a couple of corners and he spots Mark ducking into a room. Apparently, he’s not just avoiding Eduardo. Eduardo debates with himself about whether to chase after him into that room. He’s not sure he wants to be alone with Mark. It could escalate horribly.

His phone vibrates with an incoming call. He answers it and it’s his assistant with a question. But the reception in the building is atrocious, so he makes his way outside. There’s an issue with a contract and it takes him nearly half an hour to explain what needs to be done over the phone. It would be easier with charts. Or maybe not, given that this particular client insists on a needlessly complicated delivery clause.

He finishes up just as people start flooding from the building. There’s an air of urgency to them, even some panic. He hears someone say something about fire and through an opened door, he can see smoke. But there’s no fire alarm blaring.

People keep exiting, moving even more quickly. He wonders how many people are still in the building and hopes no one is trapped. And, oh, no. _Mark._ Eduardo scans the crowd, but can’t see Mark anywhere. Maybe he came out on the other side of the building. What if he didn’t, though? What if he’s still in there and can’t get out? What if he doesn’t know there’s a fire and realizes it too late? Eduardo’s chest feels tight with dread. He swallows down the sickening fear and keeps watching for Mark as the stream of people coming out slows down to a trickle and then stops. And where are the fire trucks? Fuck. He takes a few deep breaths and then heads into the building.

It’s hot and smoky. Eduardo’s eyes sting and he coughs. He keeps low and pictures the layout of the building in his head. After a couple of turns, he comes to a section of hall that’s burning and he has to double back and go down a different corridor. The smoke is getting thicker and it’s harder to breathe. He pulls his pocket square free and covers his mouth. He’s trying not to panic. He’s trying not to remember the last words he said to Mark. This isn’t fair. He’s angry at Mark, but the thought of him unable to get out, the thought of him… _dying_ , it’s just not right. Eduardo pushes those thoughts out of his head and concentrates on his path.

It’s hard to see and Eduardo suddenly wonders if he’s going to be able to get out. It would be almost funny, in a dark sort of way, if he were to die because of Mark. Except, well, Mark might be the reason, but not the cause. Eduardo made the decision to enter the burning building.

He rounds a corner and runs into someone in the thick smoke. It’s Mark and he’s staring at Eduardo in disbelief. Then he coughs. Eduardo latches onto Mark’s arm and tows him back the way Eduardo came. It’s a little less smoky, but Mark’s still coughing and he’s stumbling a little. Eduardo keeps pulling him along. Mark’s breathing sounds really bad. Eduardo stops and tries to get a better grip. There’s another exit up ahead at the end of the hallway. Mark wavers and goes to his knees. Eduardo helps him back up and Mark’s curled in on himself, coughing.

Eduardo drops his pocket square and gets an arm around Mark’s shoulders and one under his knees and sweeps him up into his arms. Mark feels too light and insubstantial in his arms. Coughs wrack Mark’s body and Eduardo adjusts his grip and moves as fast as he can. And then Mark stops coughing and goes heavy in his arms. Eduardo thought the coughing was bad, but the quiet is so much worse. He’s at the end of the hallway and through the door. Eduardo is coughing in the fresh air, but Mark isn’t.

Now that he’s outside, Eduardo can hear sirens. He looks around and locates an ambulance and heads over to it. EMTs rush over to him. There’s some confusion while he tries to explain what happened while coughing and they try to get him to relinquish his hold on Mark. He lets go reluctantly. Mark’s not breathing and they start artificial respiration on him. He doesn’t respond and it’s the longest few seconds of Eduardo’s life. Then Mark starts coughing again. They put an oxygen mask on him and get him loaded into the ambulance. And then they get a mask on Eduardo.

~~~

It’s hours later and Eduardo is sitting by Mark’s bedside. Mark is asleep or maybe still sedated from whatever they did. Mark’s right hand and left ankle are bandaged and he has a visible burn on the side of his neck. And he still has an oxygen mask. Eduardo was able to get rid of his own mask once his chest x-ray and blood tests checked out.

Mark looks better, but Eduardo keeps getting choked up as he watches him. It’s probably the shock and the stress. Eduardo just can’t help thinking about what might have happened. What if he hadn’t come to this thing? What if he’d been half a world away? He knows there are hundreds of scenarios that could have happened where Mark ended up just fine, but those aren’t the ones running through his mind.

Eduardo scoots his chair up close to the bed and folds his right hand over Mark’s uninjured left hand. He shouldn’t be doing it, but it makes him feel better, a little less shaky. He’s so tired all of a sudden. He leans against the bed and lets the feel of Mark’s hand in his and the sound of Mark breathing soothe him.

~~~

Eduardo must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing he knows, Chris and Dustin are coming into the room. He blinks and sits up. And then he notices Mark is awake. Not just awake, but looking at Eduardo, who’s still holding his hand. Eduardo hastily pulls away. Mark coughs a little and that’s when Eduardo notices he has a nasal cannula instead of the mask and wonders when that happened.

Chris clears his throat. “Um, so, I heard there was a fire last night. On the news. Where I also heard that you both had been taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in said fire. And I checked my phone to see if the battery had died or something.”

“Sorry,” Mark says and coughs a couple of times.

Chris, Dustin, and Eduardo all wince at the rough sound of his voice.

“Actually, I’m not mad at _you_ ,” Chris says to Mark and then he turns to Eduardo.

Eduardo blinks in surprise. “You’re mad at _me_?”

“More worried than mad. You could have called someone,” Chris says with a sigh.

“Sorry, I wasn’t really thinking,” Eduardo says.

“Yeah, I guess I can understand that,” Chris says.

There’s something under Chris’ words that Eduardo can’t quite decipher.

“Hey, Eduardo, so how does it feel to be a Big Damn Hero?” Dustin asks with a smile.

“What?” Eduardo asks.

“Check it out,” Dustin says and pulls something up on his phone and shows it to Eduardo.

It’s a picture of Eduardo carrying Mark from the burning building. Eduardo looks up at him. “Where did you get that?”

“There are pictures all over the web. I guess some people see fire and think photo op,” Dustin says.

Eduardo bows his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he see Mark gesture for the phone. Dustin hands it over. Eduardo looks up at Mark. Mark looks at the picture and then at Eduardo. He doesn’t say anything.

Chris asks a few questions about how Mark wants to handle the press. He keeps it to mostly yes and no questions. Dustin tells them that Mark’s the only one that had to be hospitalized. And that the fire’s causes are still unknown. 

“The alarm didn’t go off,” Eduardo says.

“They said there was some sort of malfunction,” Dustin says.

“Mark could have been killed,” Eduardo says starkly.

Nobody says anything to that. Chris and Dustin stay a few more minutes and then leave, promising to be back later with progress reports on the press (Chris) and Facebook (Dustin). Eduardo watches them leave and isn’t sure what to do. He should probably leave himself. At the very least, he should shower and change his clothes, since he smells strongly of smoke. He doesn’t want to leave, though.

Mark starts to say something and breaks off for a cough. He clears his throat and tries again. “Why were you in the building?”

Eduardo looks at Mark, not sure he wants to answer that. “I…”

“Did you- Were you looking for me?”

Eduardo nods.

“Why?”

“Jesus, Mark, I’m angry at you, but I don’t want you dead.”

“There’s a difference between not actively wishing for my demise and running into a burning building on the off chance I was inside,” Mark says, coughing out the last few words.

“Mark, stop talking.”

“I will, if you tell me what I want to know.”

“Fine. I’m still angry at you. What you did was unacceptable. But I still care about you. It matters to me what happens to you.”

“Piece of paper. Pen.”

“What?”

Mark just looks at him and mimes zipping his lips.

“Oh,” Eduardo says and goes out to find something. He scrounges a little notepad and a pencil from a nurse and brings them back to Mark.

Mark writes something down on the notepad. He hands it over to Eduardo. It reads:

_I burned my hand on the doorknob and then_  
_I got out and there was all this smoke. Something_  
_fell and I tripped over it. I could barely see. I kept_  
_going, but I wasn’t sure I was going to make it._  
_Then you were there. I was relieved. But mostly_  
_I was afraid. Afraid that I was going to keep you_  
_from getting out._

__

“I was afraid, too. You stopped breathing. And it didn’t matter what you’d done. And it didn’t matter that I was angry. All I wanted was for you to be okay.”

Mark gestures for the notepad. He writes something else down. This time he just shows it to Eduardo.

_You’re too soft-hearted for your own good._

Eduardo laughs. “Probably.”

Mark writes again.

_I like you that way._

“For all your faults, I like you the way you are, too,” Eduardo says.

Mark flips the page on the notepad and writes on the next one. He gives the notepad to Eduardo.

_I’m not sorry for ousting you. It wasn’t working._  
_But I am sorry for the way I did it. I wanted you_  
_with me. I wanted you. That night, in the hall, I_  
_thought you were going to kiss me, I wanted you to_  
_kiss me. But you didn’t want me. You didn’t even_  
_want to be in the same state. You wanted to go back_  
_to New York where you didn’t have an internship,_  
_but you did have a crazy girlfriend who scared you._  
_Then you froze the account and I thought you didn’t_  
_want Facebook. I was wrong. I want you back in_  
_my life, as a friend. I miss you. I miss my friend._

Eduardo curls his fingers around the notepad, wanting to hold the words to him. “You wanted me to kiss you?”

Mark nods.

“I- There was this moment, but then all I could think about was being left behind. I wanted…” Eduardo trails off. 

Eduardo puts a hand on the side of Mark’s face and leans over, pressing a soft kiss to Mark’s lips. He pulls back. Mark licks his lips and then a soft sort of smile spreads across them. Eduardo doesn’t think he’s ever seen that expression on Mark’s face before.

“I miss you, too. I think maybe, yeah, we’ll figure something out,” Eduardo says.


	26. We Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/4426.html?thread=7997514#t7997514%0A): Eduardo/Mark. It's all Dustin's fault, really. The idiot shouldn't have posted while being utterly wasted that Mark's gonna die if he doesn't lose his virginity in the next 5 days. Now, everyone who has facebook knows, and being the selfless (sarcasm here) people they are, want to help him. But obviously, they forgot about a hot-blooded Brazilian who's coming back from Singapore to claim what was always meant to be his.

Mark wants to kill Dustin. Chris wants to kill Dustin. The entire PR team wants to kill Dustin. Talia, Derek, and Miranda, who have been fielding the majority of the phone calls, want to kill Dustin. Dustin is suffering from what appears to be the world’s worst hangover, which makes everyone feel a little better. And Mark has noticed that people seem to be dropping a lot of very noisy things in Dustin’s immediate vicinity.

This is what comes of confiding in people. Not only did Dustin post about Mark’s virginity, he did it in such a stupid way. He couldn’t have posted ‘Lol, Mark still hasn’t got laid yet’ to Facebook last night instead of ‘mark’s stil a virgin ): he’ll be 25 in 5 days. if he dosen’t get some he”ll die!!!!!’ And some of the users have apparently taken that as a gold-plated invitation to proposition Mark in any and every conceivable way.

And Mark’s not _technically_ a virgin, or well, it depends on your definition. Dustin has a very narrow view – if you haven’t penetrated/been penetrated by another person, you’re a virgin. And there’s a little part of Mark that almost believes that, too. But he’s pretty sure blowjobs are sex, no matter what Dustin (and Clinton, for that matter) thought.

Of course, Mark doesn’t want to explain anything to anyone because a) it’s none of their damn business and b) he doesn’t really want to start a debate on virginity. Not that a debate would be a horrible idea given some of the things he’s seen posted. He’s pretty sure a lot of people would agree with Dustin anyway.

Mark is letting his phone go to voicemail. After answering the first few calls, he couldn’t deal. Apparently, he’s been lied to, the internet isn’t for porn, the phone is. He’s going to have to give Talia, Derek, and Miranda raises. At least it’s better than dealing with the people who want him to speak publicly about chastity, as if he’s _saving_ himself for something.

He’d had to disable messages on his Facebook page. He’s pretty sure most of this is because he’s a billionaire. And some of it’s probably due to him being a public figure – so they can sell the story or be able to boast about it. He’s feeling very cynical right now.

~~~

Mark ends up leaving early. It had come to the even more fun part where some people were making fun of him. Dustin had been genuinely apologetic then and a little bit bewildered by how awful some people were being.

He gets inside the house and disengages the alarm. He locks the door and drops his bag gently to floor. He puts his keys on the hall table. He goes into the living room and lets himself collapse in the cushy armchair. He closes his eyes.

Mark nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears a voice say, “Hey.”

Mark’s eyes pop opens as his hand flies to his chest. Eduardo is standing there, on the other side of the room. He looks like he’s made himself at home.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Eduardo says.

“How did you get in here?”

“Dustin.”

Mark glowers. That’s it. Dustin’s dead.

“He doesn’t actually know I’m here or anything. I have a key to his place and I found where he keeps the key to your place. You may want to talk to him about that, by the way, since he keeps the key with a piece of paper with your security code,” Eduardo says.

Mark blinks a little, that’s the most Eduardo’s said to him at one time since the depositions. Mark sighs. He will deal with Dustin later. “You have a key to his place?”

“I stay with him when I’m in town.”

“Okay. And what are you doing here?”

“Funny story. So, I was in New York and when I woke up this morning, Dustin had posted the most interesting thing.”

“So, you flew out here to make fun of me, too?”

“Too?” Eduardo says, looking a little confused.

“As in also. Like one of the many people who has already done so today. At least you’re not doing it online or on Twitter or any other public forum.”

“I didn’t come here to make fun of you.”

“Then what did you come here for?”

“You.”

“What?”

Eduardo sort of prowls his way across the room. He ends up right in front of Mark’s chair. He leans down, hands resting on the chair’s arms, so that he’s looking directly at Mark. “I wanted you. I wanted you so much that I would’ve given every penny of the three hundred thousand dollars I made just for you to look back at me with even a quarter of the interest that you showed for coding. You never did, so I assumed you weren’t interested. But the fact that you’ve gone this long leads me to conclude that either you’re asexual…” Eduardo trails off and raises an eyebrow here.

Mark shakes his head no.

“Or you just cannot figure out when someone wants you.”

“There could be many other possibilities.”

“True, but I’ll take my chances.”

“What- I don’t- What do you want from me?” Mark says and it comes out a little more plaintive than he had intended.

“I just want you. This has nothing to do with pity or your money or bragging rights or anything like that. It has to do with you and me. So, I’m going to go upstairs and wait for you. If you don’t join me in say, fifteen minutes, I’ll just let myself out and we can pretend this never happened. If you do join me, though, I can promise you some new knowledge and a good time,” Eduardo’s says, his voice seeming deeper and darker than Mark’s ever heard it. Eduardo straightens and walks toward the stairs. 

“Wait.”

Eduardo turns around and looks at Mark.

“If I- If we don’t- If this doesn’t happen, will we go back to, you know, not talking?”

Eduardo looks at him consideringly. “Do you want us to?”

“No! No, I don’t,” Mark says, almost tripping over the words in his haste to get them out.

Eduardo has a small, strange smile on his face. “I’m not- Us talking isn’t contingent upon you sleeping with me.”

Mark can’t quite help the skeptical face he pulls.

“Mark, look-“

“You were my best friend. Not my only friend, but my best friend. Well, you were actually my only best friend. I know a lot of it was my fault, but some of it was yours. You have no idea how alo- It’s been hard without you. But I’m not sure this is how I want you back.”

Eduardo sighs. “This is not going at all like it did in my head. Where’s your phone?”

“What?”

“Your phone. Where is it?”

Mark digs his phone out of his pocket and holds it up.

Eduardo comes over to Mark and takes it from him. He taps a couple of buttons and says, “I’m going to program my number in here and you can call… Mark, you already have my number in here.” Eduardo looks at Mark.

“I got it from Chris’ phone.”

“How long have you had it?”

“I’ve never not had a number for you.”

“Why haven’t you ever called?”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d answer.”

“Even when I was angriest at you, I always would’ve answered.”

Mark stands up and heads towards the stairs. “Okay, let’s go.”

Eduardo catches his arm. “Wait, what? Mark, I don’t want you doing this for the wrong reasons. I want you to do this because you want to. And because you want to with _me_.”

“I’m not asexual. I’m not saving myself for anything, not really. I probably could’ve slept with Erica, but I didn’t. That blowjob in the bathroom felt wrong somehow. But I didn’t know why until the depositions, until I heard everything spelled out. I didn’t realize why until then.”

“Why?”

“Because it felt like cheating.”

“On, on me?” Eduardo asks and there’s a note in his voice that sounds hopeful.

Mark nods.

“And you haven’t- Jesus, Mark.” Eduardo pulls Mark closer and leans down. He kisses Mark. Mark kisses back, opening his mouth. Eduardo deepens the kiss, pulling Mark more firmly to him. Mark tentatively licks at Eduardo’s tongue and Eduardo groans. After a minute, Eduardo pulls back and leans his forehead against Mark’s. “Upstairs?”

Mark nods.

They get up to the bedroom and Mark notices Eduardo’s bag on the floor. There are also some things on the nightstand – a box of condoms and a bottle of lube. Mark looks at Eduardo.

“I picked those up at a pharmacy. It seemed like a good idea. Also, I, um, bought some groceries,” Eduardo says.

“You what?”

“I’ve been here for a few hours. I wasn’t sure when you’d get here. I looked in your fridge and there wasn’t much there so I bought groceries. Which seemed a lot less creepy when I was doing it, but now that I’m saying it out loud…”

“You didn’t clean, did you?” Mark says, pretty sure he’s able to keep the threatening laugh out of his voice.

Eduardo looks down. “I, there was, I dusted a little,” he says contritely.

“Wow.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t have. I should respect what’s yours.”

“Why? You never have before.”

Eduardo looks up. “I-“

“You always did that kind of thing at Harvard. I don’t care, Wardo,” Mark says and lets his lips curl up into an amused smirk.

“Good, because I’ll probably do it again,” Eduardo says, sounding a little exasperated with himself.

“Okay.”

Eduardo stares at him and the mood abruptly changes. Eduardo pulls his shirt free of his waistband and unbuttons it as he watches Mark. Mark feels his cheeks heat for no discernable reason as his eyes follow Eduardo’s hands. Eduardo undoes the cuffs and shrugs out of the shirt. Instead of folding it or hanging it somewhere as Mark expects, Eduardo deliberately drops it on the floor. Eduardo takes off his shoes and socks and then looks at Mark.

Mark slips out of his hoodie and kicks off his shoes. Then he worries at the hem of his t-shirt. Eduardo looks good – tan and still pretty thin, but his chest, shoulders, and arms are heavier with muscles. Mark doesn’t think he’ll look that good in comparison.

Eduardo steps over to Mark and peels off Mark’s t-shirt and runs an outspread hand down Mark’s chest to the waistband of his jeans. Mark shivers a little. Eduardo undoes his own trousers and belt and lets them drop. He steps out of them.

They stand there for a few seconds, Mark in his boxers and Eduardo in his boxer-briefs. Mark moves in a little closer and pulls Eduardo’s head down and stretches up to kiss him. Eduardo’s arms go around Mark and Eduardo walks him backwards, as they kiss, until they run into the bed. Eduardo breaks the kiss and Mark gets on the bed. Then Eduardo crawls onto the bed, over him. Eduardo runs his hands all over Mark’s body. Eduardo stops and lingers when he gets to a particularly sensitive spot – the back of Mark’s left hand, the skin over his right collarbone, the insides of his thighs, the skin just below his sternum, and just below his jaw, near his right ear. Then Eduardo follows that up by sucking a mark into each of those places, leaving Mark breathless and hard.

Eduardo curls his fingers around the waistband of Mark’s boxers and carefully pulls them down, Mark lifting his hips to help. Eduardo tosses the boxers to the floor and then rids himself of his own underwear. He studies Mark. Mark feels a little self-conscious. Eduardo crouches down between Mark’s legs and meets Mark’s eyes. He gives Mark a smile and sucks down Mark’s dick and he swallows. Mark’s hands go to Eduardo’s hair and he tries not to buck his hips up into Eduardo’s mouth. Eduardo pulls back and bobs back down. Mark bites his lip.

Mark watches as Eduardo slips a finger in his mouth alongside Mark’s dick. Eduardo pulls the finger out and then Mark feels it prodding at his hole. His finger pushes in and it’s weird. Not painful, just weird. Eduardo swallows again and Mark’s so close. Mark grips Eduardo’s hair and tries to pull him away, but Eduardo sucks harder. And Mark just comes, everything sort of whiting out for a second. When Mark regains his senses, he realizes Eduardo still has a finger in him. Mark blinks at him.

Eduardo smiles and says, “It’s easier if you’re relaxed.”

Mark nods a little. Eduardo pulls out his finger and reaches for the bottle of lube. He slicks up his fingers quickly and pushes two into Mark. Mark shudders a little, the feeling indescribable. Eduardo scissors his fingers a few times and then pulls them out and pushes in again with three. And that feels like too much, the stretch sort of painful. Eduardo watches his face and his fingers brush against something that makes Mark jump. Eduardo does it again and Mark can feel his dick, still sensitive from his recent orgasm, start to respond. Eduardo runs his other hand over Mark’s dick and it goes half hard. Eduardo leans down and licks at the head and Mark’s fully hard again. Mark had no idea he could recover that fast. Eduardo pulls his fingers free and takes a minute to get a condom, get it open, get it on, and slick it up.

Eduardo asks, “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

Eduardo starts to push in, but he’s hesitant about it.

“Just go,” Mark says.

Eduardo pushes all the way in and it’s almost a shock. Mark feels too full, like his body is fighting the stretch. Eduardo kisses him and runs a soothing hand down his side. Mark takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He’s able to ease up a little. Eduardo pulls back and thrusts in.

Eduardo’s murmuring things that Mark only catches in snatches. He hears “so good” and “right” and “us, just us”. Eduardo pulls back and then angles in and hits that spot again. Mark twitches and Eduardo keeps hitting it. Eduardo looks intently at Mark’s face. Mark feels exposed, somehow, but he looks back at Eduardo. Eduardo reaches down between them and grips Mark’s dick and Mark comes again. It feels deeper and he can feel himself clenching down on Eduardo. Eduardo groans and goes still. It takes a second for Mark to realize that Eduardo’s coming, too.

They lie there, breathing heavily and then Eduardo pulls out slowly. Mark feels oddly empty. Eduardo gets rid of the condom and goes into the bathroom. The water runs for a few seconds and Eduardo comes back with a washcloth. He wipes Mark down gently and goes back to the bathroom. Eduardo comes back over to the bed and lies down beside Mark, but he seems a little tense. Mark puzzles over it and then realizes.

“You can get up and fold your clothes, if you want,” Mark says.

Eduardo turns his head and gives Mark a sheepish smile. “That obvious, huh?”

Mark smiles at him and says, “We are who we are.”

Eduardo gives him a happy smile. “Yes, we are.”


	27. Exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/4426.html?thread=8553546#t8553546): Eduardo/Mark. This is the story of how Mark and Eduardo met: [a gif with a link that no longer works, but basically Mark is naked].

It’s an inauspicious meeting to say the least. Mark doesn’t get the name of the guy who sees him, but he remembers him very well. And two years later, when Chris introduces them, Mark can see from the look on his face that Eduardo Saverin also remembers.

So Mark retreats into humor. “I’m a Terminator,” he says flatly.

And Eduardo laughs. He gets it. Even as Dustin and Chris look on in confusion, Mark very clearly thinks _he’s going to be a good friend_.

~~~

Eduardo asks him about it months later and Mark again deflects with humor. “Sometimes I just wake up places without my clothes. Usually after full moons. It’s weird.”

Eduardo laughs and lets it go.

~~~

The next time Eduardo asks, Mark says, “It was a dream. You know, one of those naked in public ones.”

“And how did I see this dream?”

“Shared dreaming. It’s a thing.”

“Ah,” Eduardo says. He smiles and shakes his head. “Someday, I’m going to get the real story from you.”

 _Not if I can help it_ , thinks Mark.

~~~

Eduardo brings it up indirectly by giving Mark a trench coat as a present in front of Chris and Dustin. Mark gives him an unamused look. 

Eduardo smiles and says, “In case you want to be a bit more… discreet.”

“About what?” Dustin asks. “Why does he need a trench coat? Is Mark following someone? Is he, like, being a spy? I think that’s actually called stalking if you’re not with law enforcement.”

“I’m not stalking anyone,” Mark says.

“Maybe he’s flashing people,” Chris says with a grin.

Dustin starts laughing and Chris joins in. Mark glares at Eduardo. Eduardo shrugs.

~~~ 

A few weeks later, Dustin, Chris, Mark, and Eduardo are settling down for Chinese takeout and a movie when Eduardo fishes something out of his pocket and hands it over to Dustin. It’s a pair of ‘X-Ray Specs’.

“These are so cool. Where did you find them?” Dustin asks as he puts them on and stares at the TV.

“I picked them up somewhere. Thought you might like them.” Eduardo looks directly at Mark and then says, “ _I_ certainly don’t need them.”

~~~

Mark’s looking for the Cease and Desist letter in his old stuff. He told his lawyers that he’d probably thrown it out, but he’d promised to look. The depositions are in a couple of weeks. Wow, there’s a lot of crap in these boxes. He stops when he comes across the ‘X-Ray Specs’. He sits there and holds them and thinks.

~~~

Two weeks later, when Eduardo’s lawyer asks about how they met, he’s still thinking about those stupid novelty glasses. So, instead of saying that Chris introduced them, he tells them that he was naked in his yard when Eduardo showed up. All of the lawyers lean back in surprise. But Eduardo leans forward. All of a sudden, Mark sees a possibility, a possibility of maybe getting his friend back. He tells them about Chris actually introducing them and what Mark said and then he tells what he thought and what he felt. And Eduardo almost smiles. That’s the key then, letting Eduardo know what Mark thought, what he felt, opening up, exposing himself. Mark proceeds to do so for every question, staring down his lawyers’ attempts to stop him.

At the end of the day, Mark sits and stares at the table while people file out of the conference room. Someone sits down next to him. He turns his head and sees Eduardo. Everyone else is gone.

“Tell me why you were naked,” Eduardo says quietly.

“There was this girl I liked and I thought she liked me back. But it was just a trick. She said she wanted to have sex outside in her backyard. As soon as I was undressed, she grabbed my clothes, ran inside, and locked the door. Then she got a camera and I took off. It wasn’t that far to my house and I made it there without anybody else seeing me. I thought I was home free, all I had to do was climb into my bedroom window. I was so relieved that I almost forgot I was naked. And then, there you were,” Mark says, trying to get the whole humiliating story out as quickly as possible.

Eduardo is looking at him a little sadly. He’s quiet for a moment and then says, “Okay. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. You are going to give me fifteen percent of the shares and a fair price for the other fifteen percent that would’ve been mine. Then we’re going to put this behind us.”

“Are you- Okay.”

“Okay. And when that’s done, I’m going to take you out to dinner and tell you exactly what I thought the first time I saw you, how attracted I was. And then, maybe we can reenact that first meeting, only somewhere more private.”

Mark nods. “Okay. Yes.”


	28. A Little More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/4426.html?thread=7734858#t7734858%0A): Eduardo/Mark, "I'm not a robot, Wardo" Mark hears all the comments about how he's "a robot" and while outwardly showing nothing, he feels hurt, and no one notices. Cue Mark (drunkenly?) angsting to Eduardo. Eduardo seeks to comfort Mark. Preferably unestablished relationship (it would be awesome to see it unfold!) and pre- or post- depositions.

When Eduardo wakes up late, he finds that his phone battery is dead so he puts it in the charger and hurries to get ready. While rushing around, he burns his finger and spills his coffee everywhere. He has to change his shirt and tie and he doesn’t remember his phone until he’s nearly to the office. He feels cut off, even though he has his office phone and email, and he wonders if maybe he isn’t a little too dependent. 

The day is so very long and almost a total wash. He’s constantly interrupted and he has three very unproductive meetings. He doesn’t really want to do anything once he gets home except collapse. But he dutifully grabs his phone and sits on the couch. He goes through his texts, deleting or replying as necessary. He then looks through his calls and there are several calls from a number he doesn’t know, although he recognizes the area code. Maybe Chris or Dustin got a new phone? Whoever it is left several voicemails. He listens to the first message.

“Wardo, Wardo, hey, hey,” says a voice. 

Says _Mark’s_ voice. Says Mark’s _very drunk_ voice. The message plays on, but Eduardo doesn’t really hear it. Mark doesn’t usually get drunk, tipsy, sure, but he doesn’t really like the loss of control all that much. Or at least, he didn’t. Hell, for all Eduardo knows, Mark could be getting drunk every weekend. Dustin or Chris probably would have told him, though. Mark was taboo for some time until Eduardo had become tired of them talking around the subject. They still don’t talk all that much about him, but some.

He hasn’t heard Mark’s voice for a very long time – after the first awkward run-in with him at an event, Eduardo’s assistant, Miri, had come in one morning with a confused expression and said that Mark Zuckerberg’s assistant, Celia, had contacted her with a list of engagements that Mr. Zuckerberg would be attending that month. It had been strangely thoughtful of Mark. Eduardo had adjusted his calendar. And every month, Miri had received a call from Celia. Occasionally, there would be something on the list that Eduardo had to attend and he’d had Miri call Celia. Mark had then either arranged for someone else to attend in his stead or had Celia give Miri a specific time frame that Mark would be there. It’d worked out pretty well. In fact, Miri and Celia had become quite friendly and Celia had attended Miri’s wedding as a bridesmaid. Eduardo’s next assistant, Todd, hadn’t been quite so friendly with Celia, but several months later, Celia had left and was replaced by April. April and Todd talk a lot, _a lot_.

Eduardo sits there for a very long time after the message ends. He thinks about deleting all of Mark’s messages without listening to them. He doesn’t hate Mark and he’s not even really angry at him anymore. But it feels like he would be opening himself up again. And Mark is very hard to get over – Eduardo should know. In the end, he can’t delete any of them. He wants to know what Mark has said. He plays the first message again.

“Wardo, Wardo, hey, hey, it’s Mark. I’m- Okay, I shouldn’t call, be calling, I mean. But you know. You know me. Probab, problab, better than anyone. I’m not a robot, Wardo. Even when you thought I was the worst person, you never thought that. I’m not. I don’t- I have- I’m real,” Mark’s voice says and then pauses for a long moment. “I’m not a robot. Am I?”

Eduardo wonders what brought this on. There have been people who have called Mark emotionless or a robot. Mark had always seemed to ignore it, like it was beneath him. But Mark was never emotionless, just not good at letting emotions show, or maybe just not wanting to let them show, Eduardo could never quite tell. It was probably some of both. He wonders why it’s bothering Mark now. He goes to the next message.

“Hey, yeah, Wardo, sorry. It’s just and Dustin. He skewed, screwed up. It took hours to fix. I’m not a robot. I mess up too. I was angry – see, not robot. He didn’t have to say it. And Chris. Everydoby, everybody says it. He should know. Right? Not a robot. Not. Bye.” Mark says, sounding dejected.

Eduardo’s a little troubled by how down Mark sounds. He’s a little troubled that he’s the one Mark called – that it seems like Mark feels that Eduardo is the only one he can call. Eduardo’s upset that Mark’s upset. Maybe he’ll never really get over Mark. Somehow, though, it doesn’t make him angry or resentful, only a little wistful. He plays the next message.

“I don’t, don’t- I should stop. Did you, do you ever wish you were like- I wish I was, but then I couldn’t be. I, um, bye.”

That didn’t make all that much sense to Eduardo. He thinks about it for a minute. Maybe Mark was asking if Eduardo had ever wanted to be like Mark. He goes to the last message.

“Hi, Wardo. I’ll stop. I, I, I’m not. I can, I can feel. I feel. I, it would be easier if I was, no, if I didn’t. I feel. I’m sorry. I should, I’ll go. Goodbye,” Mark’s voice says, sounding less drunk, but a great deal sadder.

Eduardo stares at his phone. He puts in the number and then erases it, three times. He sighs. He enters the number and calls.

“Hello,” Mark says.

“Hi, Mark,” Eduardo says.

There’s a long pause, then, “Wardo?”

“You are not a robot.”

“I-“

“Goodbye, Mark.”

“Wait!”

“What?”

“Thanks.”

“Bye.”

“Bye, Wardo,” Mark says, sounding almost as sad as his last message.

Eduardo disconnects. He putters around his apartment for a while. He fixes himself some dinner, but doesn’t eat much, preoccupied. Eventually, it gets late and he gets ready for bed. He checks the time and makes another call.

“Hello,” Dustin’s voice sings out.

“Hey, Dustin.”

“Eduardo! Hey, man, what’s up?”

“Dustin, is Mark okay?”

“Huh?”

“Is Mark okay?”

“Um, I guess? I mean, I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.”

“What?”

“There was this thing a couple of days ago – I kind of messed something up. He had to do a lot of fixing. He’s, like, working from home for a few days.”

“Does he do that often?”

“Uh, every once in awhile. When he doesn’t want to deal with people. He was angry and overtired and I was embarrassed and frustrated and some things were said,” Dustin says, sounding a little sheepish. “He’ll get over it soon, I hope. Why are you asking?”

“I got a call.”

“From _Mark_?”

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal.”

“Isn’t it, though? I didn’t think you guys talked, like, at all.”

“I should go. Bye, Dustin.”

“Hey, wait! You totally didn’t answer-“

Eduardo disconnects. It’s a little rude, but he’s okay with that. He finishes getting ready for bed. It takes a long time to fall asleep and it’s a very restless sleep. He wakes up early. He’s tired, but his mind is clear. He grabs his laptop and starts making arrangements.

~~~

Eduardo knocks on the door of Mark’s house. He really needs to move back to the States. The flight from Singapore is such a killer. Eduardo knocks again after a few moments. The door opens and Mark stares at him. Eduardo looks back. Mark looks tired and a little worn, in his t-shirt and sweatpants. Mark reaches out with a finger and pokes him in the shoulder. Eduardo blinks at him, taken aback.

“Sorry, just checking,” Mark says.

“What? To see if I’m real?” Eduardo asks, amused.

Mark nods.

“I’m real, I’m here. When’s the last time you slept?”

Mark shrugs and opens the door wide.

Eduardo walks in. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?”

Mark closes the door behind him. “Are you here to yell at me or break anything?”

“No.”

“Then, no.”

“Why not?”

“I would assume that it has something to do with my voicemails and/or your call. So, either you feel sorry for me, which I’d rather not know, or you’re here to take care of me, which will become abundantly clear in a short amount of time.”

“Anger, pity, or caring? Those are my only drivers?” Eduardo asks lightly.

“No. But those are the reasons you would fly in from Singapore to see _me_.”

That’s… probably true. “You’re right.”

“Yeah.”

“You know me pretty well. I am here to take care of you. But I can’t for the life of me figure out why.”

“It’s part of who you are. More importantly, it’s part of who you want to be.”

What does that mean? “Who I want to be?”

“Someone who takes care of the people he- Who takes care of people.”

“Who takes care of the people he cares about. That’s what you were going to say,” Eduardo says starkly.

“It’s not a bad thing.”

“Sometimes people don’t want to be taken care of.”

“Sometimes people don’t know what they’ve got until it’s gone. Wow, that was really cliché.”

Eduardo’s mouth quirks involuntarily. “What exactly are you saying?”

“You were always there – making sure I ate and slept, reminding me when something was due or when I had things scheduled, taking care of things. I resented it, a little, like you were implying that I couldn’t do it myself. Then, I resented it when you weren’t there to do it. And then you cut me off, cut Facebook off. And I thought that there was no way I was going to let myself rely on you again, so I cut you out. And somehow, that was even worse. But I couldn’t bring myself to apologize. I knew you would have forgiven me, but I couldn’t do it. I’d convinced myself I didn’t need you.”

“Jesus, Mark. What am I supposed to say to that?”

“I don’t know. You don’t have to say anything.”

“No, I think I do. I would have forgiven you, yeah. At the time, all I wanted you to do was say you were sorry and you wanted us to live together and be together always. Which was a little unrealistic on my part and probably wouldn’t have worked out that great back then. But we’re a little more grown up now, hopefully a little more mature. So, maybe we try again? This time knowing a little more about each other and a little more about ourselves. And possibly, we actually talk to and listen to each other when we have a problem?”

“I can’t guarantee that, but I can try.”

“That’s enough for me. Now, you didn’t answer my question earlier. When’s the last time you got some sleep?”

“Um…”

“If you can’t actually remember, then it’s been too long. Come on, show me where your bedroom is.”

Mark looks a little confused, but heads to the stairs. Eduardo follows him up to his bedroom. Eduardo pulls down the covers of the bed and maneuvers Mark into it. Mark watches as Eduardo sheds his jacket and his shoes and socks, leaving him in his jeans and polo shirt. Eduardo climbs into bed next to Mark.

“Are we- Is this…” Mark asks, but trails off when he can’t seem to find the words to finish the question.

“Hush. We are going to sleep because you haven’t in a while and I didn’t get much sleep earlier,” Eduardo says and pulls Mark over to him and settles his left arm around him. Mark slowly relaxes and then his right arm comes up to cover Eduardo’s left. Eduardo whispers, “Not a robot at all.”

Mark gives his arm a squeeze and his lips turn up. Eduardo gives in to impulse and presses a soft kiss to Mark’s temple. Mark’s smile deepens and his dimples show. As Eduardo drifts off, he thinks about all the ways he’s going to try to make that happen again.


	29. Destination Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/tsn_kinkmeme/5147.html?thread=8702235#t8702235): Eduardo/Mark - E.D.uardo. So Eduardo hasn't been able to get... ahem... "erect" for a very long time. Maybe the stress and others' expectations are too high for him, or maybe he's been on some kind of medication that has erectile dysfunction as a side-effect, however you wanna swing it. Long story short, he hasn't gotten hard in FOREVER and he's sort of given up on sex all together, but then one day he meets this awkward curly-haired dude and BAM he totally pitches tent, and isn't it just Eduardo's luck that the only person in the world who can give him a boner is both a guy and a complete asshole. Can be Harvard-era, post-deposition I've-Lost-My-Magickal-Boner-Trigger-And-Now-I'm-Super-Angsty, or complete AU, idc. Just want to see Eduardo physically-sexually dependent on Mark.

Eduardo checks his email and then browses through the news online. He idly clicks on a link to an article about technology leaders, not really thinking about it. But, boom, there’s a picture of Mark right there. It’s not as though Eduardo has been avoiding all mention, all sight, and all sound of Mark, except for how he really has been. He’s usually so careful. The picture is a surprise, but it doesn’t come close to the shock Eduardo gets when he realizes he’s hard from seeing it.

Eduardo hasn’t had an erection in years. There had been any number of attempts to ‘fix’ him by potential bed partners (those who had tried had ultimately given up after no progress), prescriptions (his sensitivity to drugs meant that any prescription wasn’t worth the side effects), and therapy (it had helped with some of his problems with his father, but hadn’t worked otherwise). His issues had started in high school. Eduardo would have thought it was just the way he was, except he didn’t have any problems with his first serious girlfriend. Sure, there’d been awkward fumbling and a lot to learn, but getting it up was never an issue. But then they’d broken up and there’d been all this pressure to get into a good college, keep up his grades, be the perfect son and well, getting hard, became, well, hard. He’d like to blame it all on his father, his high expectations, but a lot of it had been from Eduardo himself. Then, there’d been college and the pressure to do well and it just seemed to get worse.

And then, for a while, starting his sophomore year, it had been better - a little hit and miss, but at least there had been hits. Then there was Christy and that had worked okay, until New York. He’d managed a few times, but not often. And maybe part of her crazy jealousy had come from his inability to get an erection. But then they’d broken up and he’d been cut out of Facebook and his dick had been about the last thing on his mind.

Eduardo stops for a second and thinks back to when things had happened to get better in college. He’d never really pinpointed a date, but he tries now. There was that crazy party and it still wasn’t working and then… and then he’d met Mark. Eduardo is so stupid. How could he have not put this together? To be fair, his therapist hadn’t put it together either and they must have been over this a hundred times. But wait, what about New York and Christy? Mark hadn’t been there and Eduardo had still been able to perform a few times. Except, every one of those times had been after particularly long phone calls to Mark. And now that he thinks about it, the last time he’d been able to get hard was during the time of the depositions, when he should have been at maximum stress levels.

~~~

Armed with this new knowledge, Eduardo tries a few things. With Mark in his head when he’s trying to get himself off, he’s able to get it up, but unable to climax. He tries with a few women, but it’s sort of disastrous. It’s very difficult to keep Mark in mind and weird besides. He tries with a guy, reasoning that maybe that’s the issue, but that doesn’t work either.

Eduardo decides to try something else. It’s easy enough to figure out a few events that Mark might show up at. The first one, Mark is there, but Eduardo doesn’t approach him, just watches him from a distance. And it’s better, easier, having seen him in person, but still Eduardo can’t quite get there. The next time, Eduardo goes up to Mark. Mark looks at him in surprise which turns to perplexity when Eduardo makes small talk. Mark awkwardly returns his conversational volleys. Later, Eduardo is finally able to bring himself off.

So, Eduardo keeps going to things that Mark’s attending. And he keeps talking to Mark. Mark always responds, but there is a wariness in his eyes. Eduardo’s not exactly shocked, he did turn up out of the blue and if Mark had done the same thing, Eduardo would have spent a lot of time wondering what he wanted. Of course, when Mark is paying attention, he notices things. And since being around Mark arouses Eduardo, he shouldn’t be surprised when Mark notices that. Weirdly, he doesn’t say anything, just looks down Eduardo’s body, blinks, and looks back up. Eduardo should be relieved, instead he’s frustrated. Eduardo would very much like sex with another person and it feels like it would work with Mark, but he really, really doesn’t want to be the one to bring it up.

It continues like that for several weeks. And every time, Mark’s eyes slide down Eduardo’s body and then slip back up to meet his eyes, and still he doesn’t say anything about it. Finally, Eduardo breaks. He can’t actually ask, so he puts an extra keycard and a slip of paper with his hotel room number in an envelope and hands it over to Mark as he excuses himself. He promises himself that if Mark doesn’t show up at the room, Eduardo will stop this, stop attending these things. He’s not sure that he can keep that promise.

Mark does come to the room. And Eduardo is on him the second the door closes. Embarrassingly, it only takes a few minutes of rubbing up against Mark for Eduardo to come. He blushes when Mark looks at him in surprise. Eduardo drops to his knees and undoes Mark’s pants. He has no real practical experience with guys (his aborted attempt with that one guy just did not get very far). However, he has read a lot and practiced some things even (he blushed the whole time he’d gone down on a banana, even though there was no one to see it). He’d wanted to be prepared. It’s not all that difficult, although he does gag once. Mark seems to enjoy it, at least.

Eduardo’s ready to go again. Mark reciprocates and he’s better at it. A tiny part of Eduardo can’t help but wonder who he learned with. This time, Eduardo doesn’t come as quickly (probably only due to the previous orgasm). Mark seems like he wants to talk after that, but every time he opens his mouth, Eduardo kisses him. It’s really nice kissing Mark. Eduardo hadn’t thought much about how Mark would kiss, but if he had, he would’ve maybe guessed that Mark would be impatient. But Mark’s kisses are deep and focused and deliberate. It’s heady, exciting, addictive.

~~~

This new thing between them continues after that. When they meet at one of these events, Eduardo tells Mark where he’s staying and Mark turns up. Eduardo learns that even though his own fingers in his ass don’t do much for him, Mark’s certainly do. And that having Mark inside him always feels a little invasive, but really good. But, best of all, being inside Mark is amazing - how tight he is, how responsive he is, the noises that he makes, the way his face goes open and unguarded.

Gradually, after several more of these nights, Eduardo relaxes and they start to talk, actually talk. They talk about things that matter to them – work, family, friends. Eventually, Eduardo even tells Mark some about his issues with erections. Mark gives him a skeptical look.

“No, really. It’s been a real problem,” Eduardo says.

“I haven’t noticed any problems. At all,” Mark says wryly.

“But that’s with you. For a long time, there was nothing. Then, I saw a picture of you and, well, you know. I was shocked. Of all people.”

Mark’s expression goes odd there for a second. He gives Eduardo a strange little smile. “Yeah. Of all people.”

“You can see how that would be disconcerting.”

“Yes.”

~~~

Mark is distant the next time. The sex is good, but lacking somehow, almost perfunctory. Eduardo would think that Mark is just distracted by work or something, but he knows Mark distracted and this isn’t that. Mark’s present, just holding something back. The reason why doesn’t occur to Eduardo until he’s at the airport the next morning. He cancels his flight and rents a car. He’s drives to Mark’s place and it’s not until he’s knocking on the door that he thinks to wonder if Mark’s even home. He could easily be at work. Apparently not, because Mark opens the door.

“Hi. Can I come in?” Eduardo asks.

Mark stands aside, waving him in, and Eduardo walks in. Mark closes the door behind him. “I thought you were supposed to be on a flight.”

“I was supposed to be. I cancelled it. I wanted to talk to you.”

Mark frowns. “About what?”

“When I said ‘of all people’, I didn’t mean to imply that I would rather it was anyone else but you.”

“I would imagine it would be easier on you if the person who got you going wasn’t someone that you’d sued,” Mark says evenly.

“Well, yeah. But I didn’t, I wasn’t trying to- I didn’t mean to use you.”

Mark huffs out a half-laugh.

“What?” Eduardo asks.

“Nothing.”

“No, that wasn’t nothing. What about that was funny? I want the truth.”

“Oh yeah, sure you do,” Mark scoffs.

“I do!” Eduardo asks, indignant now.

“You _never_ want the truth.”

“I always want the truth.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do,” Eduardo says, irritated.

“If you really wanted the truth, you wouldn’t lie to yourself so much.”

“I don’t. I don’t lie to myself.” Eduardo hates how he sounds a little uncertain to his own ears.

“Yes, you do.”

“Alright then, tell me these truths.”

“No,” Mark says flatly.

“Why not?”

“You’ll leave. You’ll be angry and hurt and you’ll run away,” Mark says, the unspoken _like you did before_ almost echoing in the air. Mark rubs his face tiredly. He walks away from Eduardo, out of the hall and to the living room. Eduardo follows. Mark sits on the couch.

Eduardo sits on the chair next to the couch and asks quietly, “What truths?”

“You’ll stay? Actually stay and deal with them?”

“I, I’ll try.”

“Okay.” Mark goes quiet for a long moment. “I thought you were going to bring Facebook down. Looking back, I’m not sure you would have, but then, I believed it.”

Eduardo feels like he’s had the air knocked out of him. It takes a few moments before he’s able to respond. “That’s not exactly something I’ve lied to myself about.”

“Are you sure?”

Eduardo thinks about it. And, okay, when he’d smashed the computer and filed the suit and been deposed, he’d never let himself think that Mark could have had a good reason. He’d always assumed revenge or pettiness or Sean or jealousy. And maybe all of those had played a part. But if Mark had really believed that Eduardo could bring Facebook down, then, from Mark’s perspective, cutting Eduardo out would have been the smart move.

“Did you really believe that?” Eduardo asks unsteadily.

Mark nods.

Eduardo swallows. “What else?”

Mark reaches out and grabs Eduardo’s hand. “You’ll never be good enough for your father.”

Eduardo closes his eyes and breathes out a shaky breath. He wants to stand up and pace. He wants to hide. Mark is anchoring him there though. Eduardo takes a deep breath and opens his eyes. Mark’s looking at him with soft, sympathetic eyes.

“I know,” Eduardo says softly, finally admitting it out loud, after decades of just feeling it.

“Yeah.”

“So, how many more of these?”

“Just one.”

“Hit me.”

“You’re in love with me.”

“What?” Eduardo almost laughs because that’s ridiculous.

“I’m the only one who gets you hard. Now, I’m not repulsive or anything, but I know I’m not the most attractive person ever and even if I were, would that really matter? You said yourself it was psychological – so, why me?”

“Sexuality is complicated,” Eduardo says.

“That’s probably true. But, Wardo, does it really make sense to you that a purely physical attraction is what gets you over your psychological issues? Does it make sense to you that something so tied up in how you’re _feeling_ is ‘fixed’ because of something that has nothing to do with feeling? Really?”

“Well, of course I feel something for you, but that doesn’t mean I’m in love with you. If that was true…” Eduardo trails off. _If that was true, everything would have been so much worse_ , is what he’d been about to say. Except it had been really, really bad anyway. “So, I’ve been in love with you since we met?”

“What?” Mark asks, looking confused.

Oops. Eduardo hadn’t actually told Mark about his issues in college and how they’d gotten better after he’d met Mark. He’d only told him about his inability to get an erection after they’d gone their separate ways. Which, now that he thinks about it, is pretty telling. Without Mark in his life… Crap, Mark is right.

Eduardo pulls his hand from Mark’s and stands up. Mark stands up, too. Eduardo walks out of the living room and down the hall to the front door.

“You’re leaving,” Mark says behind him.

Eduardo puts a hand on the door and turns to look at Mark. “I have to.”

Mark’s standing at the other end of the hall, hunched in on himself. “You said you’d stay.”

“I said I’d try.”

“This is you trying?” Mark asks, his voice strangely pitched. The expression on his face is hard to look at – hurt mixed with a little anger, a little fear, and a lot of resignation.

Eduardo turns back to the door, opens it, and walks out.

~~~

Eduardo gets in his rental car and just drives. He drives away. He drives, only stopping for gas and snacks, until he gets tired. He ends up in Salt Lake City. He finds a hotel and gets a room. He falls asleep almost immediately. The next morning, he calls his office and says that he won’t be in for a few days. He checks out and then gets in the car and drives again. 

This time, he lets himself think. He thinks about how he’d always wanted to take care of Mark and how he’d always wanted to be around him. He thinks about how scared he’d been when he’d realized how dependent on Mark he’d become and how that had made him decide to go to New York rather than Palo Alto. He thinks about how that was really just him running away and how he’d run away after the depositions. And he’s still running. He’s somewhere in Wyoming when he realizes he needs to stop. He finds a place to turn around. He starts driving back. He stops for food and gas and then keeps driving. He drives until he can’t anymore. He gets to a hotel and gets a room. He calls Mark.

Mark answers on the first ring. “Wardo,” he says, sounding relieved.

“Mark.”

“Where are you?”

“A Holiday Inn in Reno.”

“Reno?”

“I just drove. Made it to Wyoming. But I’m coming back. I’m coming back. Can we talk when I get there?” Eduardo asks hesitantly.

“Yeah, yeah. Are you okay?”

Eduardo pauses before answering. “I’m getting there.” That feels like… the truth.

“Okay.”

“Bye, Mark. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

~~~

Eduardo is woken up in the morning by someone knocking on the door. He pulls his pants on and answers the door. It’s Mark.

“How- What are you doing here?”

“I, um, I didn’t want to wait.”

“How did you know which, you know what? Never mind. Were you worried I might run again?”

“That might have played a factor.”

Eduardo ushers Mark in and closes the door. “Did you drive here?”

“No, I flew. I thought I could get a ride back with you.”

“Maybe you could drive. I’m a little tired of it myself.”

“I could do that.”

“I shouldn’t have run,” Eduardo says abruptly.

“I was kind of expecting it.”

“Yeah. You were right. I am in love with you. Have been pretty much since I met you.” Eduardo shakes his head.

“I thought, during the depositions, the way you were acting, that maybe. I didn’t know what to do with it then, how to make things better. When you started talking to me again, I thought you’d figured out what you wanted.”

“It turns out I’m pretty good at self deception. I feel so stupid.”

“I doubt there’s anybody out there that hasn’t lied to themselves about something.”

“Still.”

“I’m in love with you, too, if it makes you feel any better,” Mark says matter-of-factly.

Eduardo is stunned. “You- I- Feel, what? You’re in love with me?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“A while.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Are you kidding? I didn’t want you end up in Antarctica or some other place that’s really far away.”

“I wouldn’t- Okay, that’s fair. So, now what?”

“I don’t suppose you would consider moving closer and maybe seeing where this thing takes us?”

Eduardo blows out a breath. “I could maybe do that.”

“So instead of meeting at events and then going to your hotel room, we could spend more time together, get dinner, watch movies, that kind of thing.”

“Date, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Could we do both?”

“That would be acceptable.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, this is a hotel room,” Mark says lightly.

“That it is,” Eduardo says with a smile.

Mark steps up to him and kisses him. Eduardo kisses him back. Eduardo feels free, like a weight he didn’t know was there has been lifted from his shoulders. And he’s hard, which isn’t that unusual these days, but he doesn’t think he’ll being having any more problems with that.


	30. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/5147.html?thread=10167579#t10167579%0A): [GEN] or Eduardo/Mark. Where are the fics where it's Mark who doesn't want to reconcile after the settlement? I've seen other prompts but...the way I look at it, not always, but, to be fair, a lot of the time...Mark kicked his CFO out of Facebook; Eduardo sued his best friend for $600,000,000. I know it's never as simple as all that, but sometimes I want it to be.

Lately, Eduardo’s only been spending half his time in Singapore. The other half is spent in the U.S. or flying there. So when the chance to move comes along, he takes it. Turns out Sean was right. Palo Alto is the place to be. Or, well, Silicon Valley is. And he misses his friends. Which is a bigger consideration than he’d thought it would be. Eduardo sets up offices in Mountain View.

It’s strange to reconnect this way after all of this time – to be there, physically present. It’s nice not to have to plan weeks in advance to grab dinner with Chris and Dustin. It’s good to hang out with them even if it feels like something’s missing. Even if he knows what’s missing, who’s missing.

Eduardo hasn’t talked to Mark in years. He’s thought about it, thought about being friends again. But he’s never tried and neither has Mark. Eduardo wonders what he would’ve done if Mark had. Sometimes, he’s sure he would’ve rebuffed any attempts, other times, well, it’s _Mark_. Mark, who always made Eduardo work for it. Except that’s not right. He may have worked harder at his relationship with Mark, but Mark hadn’t exactly asked for him to. It’s maybe because he worked so hard that it meant so much – if it comes too easily, maybe you don’t value it as much. Now, since he can stand to really think about it again, he realizes exactly how hard he’d worked, how he’d pushed his way into Mark’s life, into his space. He wonders if it ever bothered Mark, if he’d ever resented it.

Eduardo finally admits to himself that he wants to be friends with Mark again. He wants to laugh at that acerbic wit again. He wants to be someone Mark confides in again. There was something about his friendship that made Eduardo feel everything more intensely, like standing on the edge of a precipice, aware that one wrong move could send you hurtling down. He wants it back.

~~~

Eduardo starts small, just showing up at things Mark might attend. He would be doing this anyway, these things are usually good for networking, but he wouldn’t usually attend quite so many. He’s pretty sure Mark knows he’s moved to the area. He just wants him to get used to Eduardo being around, or that’s the theory anyway. In practice, it’s a chance for _Eduardo_ to get used to it, to build up his nerve, to catalog any changes. It feels so wrong not to know everything about Mark. Well, not everything – Mark was never an open book to anyone. But Eduardo doesn’t know his schedule or if he’s eating enough (doubtful) or if he’s sleeping enough (judging from his appearance, Eduardo’s going to have to go with no).

After a few weeks, Eduardo approaches Mark at a charity event. But before he can even say a word, Mark’s whisked away by someone for something important they need to talk to him about right away. Eduardo tries again and the same thing happens. Eduardo can’t quite tell if it’s something that Mark has orchestrated or if it’s just well-intentioned people eager to avoid any kind of scene. The next time he tries, he employs a bit of stealth and is able to catch Mark off alone.

“Hello,” Eduardo says.

Mark frowns at him, looking suspicious.

“You could say hello back,” Eduardo says with a hint of humor.

“Hello,” Mark says in a monotone.

This is going spectacularly well. “I’ve set up offices in the area.”

“I’d heard,” Mark says flatly.

There’s something about how Mark is holding himself, something behind his otherwise blank expression that makes Eduardo think Mark is upset. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? No, not really.” Mark sighs. “What do you want Eduardo?”

Eduardo is a little put off by how Mark is acting, but he gamely forges on. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Ah, well. Hey, how’re you doing? Me, I’m fine. Work? Work is going well. What do you think of this weather? Little foggy, isn’t it? There, we’ve talked,” Mark rattles off.

Eduardo’s a little stunned. “Mark.”

“What?”

“Why are you acting this way?”

“Why am I acting this way? Hmm, let me think. Oh, yeah. So, my CFO didn’t listen to me, couldn’t even be bothered to be in the same state as his company, and then when I told him something he didn’t want to hear, he deliberately did something that could have ruined the company. Then-“

“I-“

“Hey! You wanted to know, so I’m telling you. Then I decided that I couldn’t have someone who could so easily do something that could damage the company as my CFO, that I couldn’t have someone who didn’t listen to me in such an important position. So, I cut that CFO out of the company. Then my best friend sued me and sat there like he expected me to apologize for doing what was best for Facebook. He said he was my one friend, my only friend and he either said it for effect or to hurt me and I don’t know which is worse. Do you have any idea what it’s like to sit there day after day while people revile you? I settled because my lawyers didn’t think I was sympathetic enough to win. Because juries tend to react to the emotions and I don’t show enough. Creation myths need a devil and guess who got cast. Just because I don’t show everyone what I feel, it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel it. Those feelings are _mine_ , mine to show or mine to hide, not for public consumption unless I choose. Certainly not for a lawyer or a jury or a _friend_ to pick apart. Does that adequately answer your question?” Mark asks sharply.

Eduardo doesn’t even begin to know how to react to that. “I, Mark, I-“

“I’m going to go. Please don’t follow me.”

Eduardo stands there as Mark walks away.

~~~

Eduardo doesn’t know how to fix this. He doesn’t know if it can be fixed. He was so focused on his own hurt, it had never even occurred to him that Mark might have been hurt. And it’s not that he was wrong to focus on himself, but he’d been so wrapped up in what Mark had done wrong, he hadn’t really thought about his own missteps. They’d always seemed so small in comparison. But maybe they weren’t. At least not in Mark’s mind.

Eduardo has forgiven Mark, but he doesn’t know if Mark can forgive him. Mark’s good at indifference, usually. So maybe it’s a good thing that this still affects him. At least he cares, right?

~~~

Eduardo wants to try to talk again, but Mark goes out of his way to avoid him. He tries again and again to no avail. He decides a different approach is in order. He doesn’t just want to show up at Mark’s house. Emails are too easy to ignore and he wants to be sure Mark actually gets the message. So he goes with the phone.

The call goes to voicemail. He waits for the beep and says, “Hello, Mark, it’s Eduardo. I would really like to talk to you. Please. You can call me back or, no, I’ll just call you again tomorrow. Please pick up. Bye.”

He leaves variations of the same message every day for a couple of weeks and then it sort of morphs into him rambling about his day. He doesn’t say anything of significance, nothing that would really hurt if he found out Mark hadn’t listened to it. It makes him feel closer to Mark somehow. And Mark hasn’t told him to stop and he hasn’t changed his number – that has to mean something.

Eduardo’s still leaving long, rambling messages a month later and he’s starting to wonder if Mark will ever answer. He’s waiting for the beep for the umpteenth time when Mark picks up.

“Eduardo,” Mark says without inflection.

Eduardo’s so surprised, he almost forgets to speak. “Hi,” he breathes out.

“Well?”

Eduardo takes a deep breath and says, “Okay, so maybe your friend did do those things. Your friend wasn’t able to separate business and friendship that well. In fact, that was an issue, him thinking of it as something he and his friends were doing, not a legitimate business, or, well, not enough of one. Your friend was really hurt. I was really hurt.”

“And that’s supposed to-“

“Wait, wait. I really was trying to get your attention, but freezing the account was petty and reckless. It was a bad business decision. But I wanted you to not leave me behind. It felt like I was losing you and I was a little desperate. And I know part of that was me being in New York. I just, Sean was there and you forgot me.”

“Why were you so hung up on Sean?”

“You looked up to him. You cared about his opinion. It seemed like he mattered to you more than I did. And when I found him at the house, I kind of thought that you and he were, you know, together.”

“What?”

“Don’t make me say it again.”

“You thought Sean and I… but, why would that even matter?” Mark says, sounding confused.

“It just did.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want my friend back. I miss you. I miss talking to you. I miss listening to you. I miss the horrible and hilarious things you say. I miss hanging out with you. I miss the smell of tuna and Twizzlers. I miss game nights and movie nights.”

“You can do those things with other people.”

“No, I really can’t. Well, I can, but it’s not the same.”

Mark’s completely silent.

“Don’t you-“ Eduardo says, stopping when he voice breaks a little. He swallows and tries again. “Don’t you miss me at all?”

Mark doesn’t say anything.

Eduardo’s crushed, heartsick. “Oh, oh, I’m sorry to have-“

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes, I miss you.”

Eduardo can’t help the huge smile that spreads across his face. “Okay, okay, can I call you?”

“I am so confused as to what you’ve been doing so far,” Mark says sarcastically.

Eduardo laughs. “I mean, can we talk? If I call, will you pick up?”

“I could do that. Maybe not always. I do get busy sometimes.”

“Of course, when you can. And maybe, if I leave you a message, you could call back.”

“Would you like to tell me more about phone etiquette?”

“Only if it works.”

“Okay, if you call, I will try to pick up. If I can’t and you leave a voicemail, I will try to get back to you in a reasonable amount of time. Happy?”

“Ecstatic.”

“Hmm.”

“No, really. Ecstatic,” Eduardo says as sincerely as he knows how.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Alright, goodbye, Mark. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Yes. Bye.”

~~~

It goes slowly, at first. Mostly, Eduardo rambles to Mark instead of his voicemail. Gradually though, Mark starts talking back rather than just interjecting a word or two every once in a while. Mark tentatively mentions work and Eduardo encourages him to talk about Facebook. He still doesn’t understand everything Mark talks about, although he has picked up more about programming. It’s odd, trying to build a friendship now that they’ve gotten a little older and hopefully a little wiser. And their previous friendship still echoes through.

It’s not the easiest thing to do, but, apparently, Eduardo doesn’t really trust things that are easy. Honestly, he’s not sure if he trusts things that are difficult, either. Trust, for him, is an amorphous, tenuous thing at best. And part of that has to do with the dilution, but a lot of it comes from before that. He always feels the need to prove himself. And Mark has his own trust issues. Somehow, though, they make it work.

~~~

Eduardo’s over at Mark’s house. They’re eating a dinner that Eduardo had prepared because he was tired of eating out or ordering in. Eduardo’s still laughing about Mark’s battles with an intern who seems to think he knows everything there is to know.

“Why don’t you just get rid of him?”

“He’s only here for another couple of weeks before he goes back to school. And some of his ideas aren’t half bad. Even if we can’t or won’t implement them right now.”

“He reminds you of you. That’s why you don’t want to get rid of him.”

Mark laughs a little. “Sean said the same thing.”

Eduardo tries not to let his expression change, tries not to let the mention of Sean sour anything. “I didn’t know Sean was around,” he says as evenly as he can.

“Wow, you really, really don’t like him, do you?”

“Can we just not talk about him?”

“Wardo, you don’t have anything to be jealous about. Sean and I are just friends.”

Eduardo takes a moment to parse out that statement and the implications of it. “Oh? And what about you and me?”

“Hmm?”

Eduardo leans forward, but tries to keep his voice casual. “What you said makes me think that _we_ aren’t just friends.”

Mark looks a little flustered. “I, um, I didn’t mean-“

“I mean, yeah, you’re right, I was jealous, am jealous, really.”

“You were? You are?”

“I’m just putting that out there. Just so you know. You don’t have to do anything with it if you don’t want.”

“Well, that’s stupid. Of course I’m going to do something with it. I’ll think about it at the very least. And then I’ll probably analyze how it fits in with everything I know about you and how things I know about you fit into it.”

Eduardo laughs. “Okay, but I just meant that you don’t have to do anything _about_ it, if you don’t want.”

“So, you don’t expect anything from me?”

“Expect, no, I don’t expect anything.”

Mark doesn’t say anything for a few moments. “Do you hope?” he asks quietly.

Eduardo smiles. “Hope, that’s a good word. I do hope.”

“Theoretically, how long would this hope last?”

“Eight years and counting.”

Mark’s eyes go wide. “Oh.”

“I find that hope can outlast almost anything.”

Mark smiles.

Eduardo hopes.


	31. Take the Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/5147.html?thread=10437659#t10437659%0A): Eduardo/Mark. As friends, Eduardo was always possessive of Mark's attention; he's sure it's the product of being the only person to ever get Mark to leave his computer for less important things, such as eating and showering and class. He never lied to himself about why that was, having been on the receiving end of Chris and Dustin's knowing looks more often than not whenever he caught someone else shooting Mark interested glances only to be met with Eduardo's steady stare in return, his hand, large and possessive, curling around the nape of Mark's neck, or his arm draping deceptively casual around Mark's shoulders. To this day, he's sure he only ever got away with it because Mark never noticed; he used to think Mark did notice and just didn't say anything out of some kind of kindness and sensitivity towards his feelings, but then Sean Parker happened and he realized that no, wow, Mark had no idea. [Continued in notes.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They aren't friends anymore, and he hates admitting that any part of that is his fault (though he knows he can't blame everything on Sean Parker and Mark), but they aren't and with that he had thought any possessiveness he had ever felt would be gone. It's not. The first time he sees Mark from across the room at some Facebook sponsored charity event that all shareholders were encouraged to go to, he had to stop himself from making his way to Mark's side, the skin on his palm already tingling with remembered warmth from Mark's skin. Mark was nodding along to whatever the man he was talking to was saying, and Eduardo's hand tightened into a fist when whatever the man said caused a hint of dimple to appear on Mark's cheek, caused Mark's hand to reach up and brush the man's elbow.

When Eduardo is four, a favorite family friend, Tio Nico, gives him a soft, stuffed animal – a monkey. Eduardo names him Vitor and takes him everywhere. He doesn’t let anyone play with Vitor or even touch him (except his mother on the occasions when he must be cleaned and Eduardo watches very carefully). His father takes Vitor away from Eduardo when he turns seven. Eduardo does not argue with his father because his father will only listen to reasoned arguments. And he knows that his father will not consider the fact that Eduardo _loves_ Vitor and Vitor is _his_ as a reasoned argument. Later, Eduardo will wonder if that wasn’t where some of his possessiveness and attachment issues came from.

~~~

Eduardo had thought that he’d gotten over this. He’d thought this had disappeared along with their friendship. But as he watches Mark with Peter Thiel, he knows it hasn’t. He heads for the bar. He’s determined not to look, but finds that he can see them in a reflection. He orders a drink, downs it, and then orders another. He really shouldn’t. He’s supposed to be mingling, making Facebook look good at this thing that the company is sponsoring. He’s supposed to be behaving like a good shareholder, helping to boost Facebook’s public image. Ah, well, it’s not the first thing he’s failed at.

He finishes his second and gets a third. He watches and he remembers. He remembers the first time he’d met Mark. How Eduardo had heard someone behind him say something horribly cutting, but viciously funny to someone else. How he’d turned in amazement and there Mark had been, with his curls and his cheekbones and his sharp blue eyes. How Mark had raised an eyebrow at him and Eduardo had stumbled out an introduction. It had started then. Already he’d wanted this boy’s attention, his focus.

It didn’t turn into the full-blown, all out possessiveness until he’d figured out that he was only one that could (sometimes) get Mark to stop with whatever he was typing and do trivial things like eat and sleep. He’d even persuaded Mark to attend classes that Mark hadn’t thought were particularly important. It felt like he’d had an access to Mark that no one else had. And that had felt good, no, not just good, exhilarating.

At first, Eduardo had believed that it was just friendship on a level he’d never had before. But when he’d found himself staring down anyone who dared to lay eyes on Mark with any sort interest, well, he’d stopped trying to fool himself. He knows that Chris and Dustin had noticed. Not that he’d been particularly subtle about the way he’d curled his hand carefully around the nape of Mark’s neck or the way he’d laid an arm on Mark’s shoulders and maintained a watchful presence. Mark hadn’t recognized it for what it was. There’d been times when Eduardo had thought maybe Mark had known and hadn’t mentioned it, maybe to be nice or maybe to avoid any awkwardness. But it’d become painfully clear that Mark had never had a clue.

He’s never been entirely sure how Mark had missed it, the way Eduardo had acted around Sean, the way he’d acted around Erica. The one time he hadn’t gone out with Mark and Mark had met someone. He knows he’d always been very stilted in Erica’s presence and he knows that she had noticed. But Mark hadn’t. Hell, he’d almost done a happy dance when he’d found out they’d broken up. He’d rushed right over to Mark’s room and had offered himself up. He can still remember the way Dustin had put a hand to his face at Eduardo’s obviousness. 

He’d tried to cure himself of it, to pull away from Mark. He’d really tried with Christy, but while it could be intense and he really did like her, his feelings for her were never as all-encompassing as they were for Mark. Maybe she’d sensed that. Anyway, it hadn’t worked.

Then Mark had forgotten him and Sean was there, _in the house_ , and it was like Vitor all over again. Losing something precious to him. He’d reacted poorly. And even though he’d been the one to try to pull away, he’d never thought that he could really lose Mark. But he did. And as much as he’d like to blame it all on Sean and Mark, he knows some of the responsibility lies with him.

He watches the reflection of Mark and Thiel and tells himself it would be a huge mistake to go over and put a hand on Mark’s back and guide him away from Thiel. And not just because this is the first time he’s seen Mark since he’d signed the settlement agreement. He clenches his fingers around the edge of the bar as Mark gives Thiel a wide enough smile for his dimples to show. He looks down when Mark actually puts his hand on Thiel’s arm. Mark rarely reaches out to touch people. That he’s comfortable enough or familiar enough to do it with Thiel is… upsetting.

Eduardo keeps looking down for a few moments, not sure what he’ll do if he keeps watching. Someone comes up to the bar next to him and accidentally bumps his elbow. Eduardo turns and it’s Mark and Thiel is standing next to him.

“Eduardo?” Mark asks, sounding a little incredulous.

“Mark,” Eduardo says with an acknowledging nod.

Thiel looks surprised, too. “Mr. Saverin.”

“Mr. Thiel,” Eduardo says shortly.

“Mr. Saverin, perhaps I should have done so before now, but I’d like to apologize. I pushed very hard for a severe dilution of your shares due to the, well, overstatement of some troubling issues,” Thiel says.

“Overstatement?” Mark asks.

“An interested party took umbrage with some of your actions. I realized later this party was not unbiased,” Thiel says.

“Sean Parker,” Eduardo says with a smirk.

Thiel inclines his head.

Mark is looking at Thiel with a frown.

“Sean Parker and I did not see eye to eye,” Eduardo understates with aplomb.

Mark snorts.

Thiel looks amused. “Parker is very good at seeing the potential in things. He is not always good at looking at a situation objectively. If I had known that there was such a clash of personalities between the two of you, I would have kept it in mind when I asked for information about you.”

“You asked Sean about Eduardo?” Mark asks.

“You called him your best friend, but you were angry. You were very reticent about it. I thought maybe he was dead weight – someone you were bringing along who wasn’t really contributing. Sean just confirmed my impression,” Thiel says.

“Yes, Sean didn’t think much of me,” Eduardo says.

“Well, he didn’t tell any untruths, just exaggerated your flaws. And you weren’t there and you did freeze the account, which made me very wary about you. But as I said, I wouldn’t have pushed so hard for a dilution like that,” Thiel says.

“Freezing the account was a childish overreaction to a perceived threat. To be fair, I was very young and I am very possessive of that which I consider mine,” Eduardo says with a sharp smile.

Thiel’s eyes narrow and he gives a faint smile. He seems to have picked up on the underlying implication. “Well, I guess I can understand that. I often go after what I want no holds barred.”

“And how’s that working out for you?” Eduardo asks wryly.

Mark is looking between the two of them, his jaw tight with annoyance and frustration. He can probably tell there are undercurrents to the conversation because they’re not really hiding it, but he can’t read them. It always upsets him when he doesn’t understand something.

“Most of the time, pretty well,” Thiel says.

“And now?” Eduardo asks.

“Not that great,” Thiel says, a little self-mocking.

“Not surprised,” Eduardo says, putting a little _been there, done that_ in his voice.

“To be entirely honest, I’m not even sure I’m on the field,” Thiel says.

“What can you do?” Eduardo asks.

Thiel gives a self-effacing smirk and a shrug.

Mark looks like he’s about two seconds from stomping away from them both.

Thiel says, “Sorry, Mark, didn’t mean to exclude you,” as he pats Mark’s shoulder.

Eduardo grinds his teeth.

“Well, I think I’ll take my leave. There are a few people here that I should talk to. Mr. Saverin, it’s been… enlightening. Mark, I’ll see you later,” Thiel says.

“Same here, Mr. Thiel,” Eduardo says.

“Goodbye,” Mark says.

Thiel walks away.

“What were you two talking about?” Mark asks.

“You were standing right there,” Eduardo says.

“Yeah, but whatever you were talking about isn’t what you seemed to be talking about.”

“I suppose I was sort of commiserating with him.”

“About what?”

“You,” Eduardo says with a wry smile.

“Me? What about me?”

“First, answer this: how hard did he push you?”

Mark doesn’t say anything.

“Did he, did he tell you that he’d pull out if you didn’t dilute my shares?”

Mark’s mouth twitches into a grimace. “He didn’t _tell_ me.”

“He implied it, then?”

Mark gives a shrug. “Something like that.”

“So, it really _was_ me or Facebook. That actually makes me feel better.”

Mark frowns at him like he’s incomprehensible. “Why?”

“It just does.”

Mark sighs. “Why were you commiserating with Peter about me?” Mark says, not letting it go.

“When I was little I had a stuffed monkey named Vitor that I never let out of my sight,” Eduardo says, expecting Mark to dismiss this and ask again.

Instead, Mark looks at him and offers, “I had a little plastic penguin that I carried in my pocket everywhere. I called him Gray.”

Eduardo is surprised that Mark followed his conversational track and a little charmed at the thought of a tiny boy, all curls and eyes, making his small penguin walk and talk. “Why Gray?”

“Black and white make gray,” says Mark matter-of-factly.

Eduardo laughs and then sobers. “I didn’t like to share Vitor at all. My father took him away from me when I was seven. He was so very important to me and I didn’t think there was any way I could lose him, but I did.”

“Gray broke. I guess I wasn’t careful enough with him. I found one just like him on Ebay a few years ago and I bought it – it wasn’t the same.”

“No, it wouldn’t be, would it?”

“Eduardo, why were you commiserating with Peter?” Mark asks quietly.

“Because you don’t see. You don’t notice.”

“Notice what?”

“Thiel was hitting on you.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Why didn’t he just say something?” Mark asks, sounding a little exasperated.

Eduardo feels defensive, even though he’s not the one Mark is talking about. “You know, if that’s what you want, _you_ could say something.”

“Wardo, _I_ can’t read people. I can’t tell if they’re going react favorably or if they’re going to hit me in the face. And after the fourth time of being hit in the face, I decided, hey, bad idea. So, I figured if someone wanted me enough, they could say something first. I can’t imagine I come across as someone who would hit anyone in the face for hitting on me.”

“Well, maybe they’re afraid of a scathing remark from you. It’s pretty much the verbal equivalent of a hit to the face.”

“I only use scathing remarks when people are being stupid. Why would I think someone wanting me is _stupid_?”

“You raise a good point.”

“Wait, you said commiserate, does that mean, did you- Why didn’t you say anything? No, wait, you already answered that – the scathing remark, right?”

Eduardo nods.

Mark pinches the bridge of his nose. “People are so confusing – you, maybe most of all.”

“Sorry to be such a trial to you. I think, I think I’m going to go. There have been far too many revelations tonight and I’m tired.”

Mark pulls his hand away from his face. He looks at Eduardo for a few seconds. “Yeah, I guess so. I’ll, um, see you at the next shareholders’ meeting?”

Eduardo thinks about it. He hasn’t been to one yet. The next one is in a couple of months. “Maybe.”

“Okay.”

“It’s been… interesting.”

“To say the least.”

Eduardo smiles and heads for the door, feeling Mark’s eyes follow him the whole way.

~~~

Two weeks later, Eduardo is still thinking about what he said and what he could have said. And he doesn’t know why. Maybe in hopes of a different outcome, but he’s not sure what he would have wanted that outcome to be. The idea of Mark passionately declaring that he’d always wanted Eduardo too is patently ridiculous, but some indication of how he’d felt, how he feels wouldn’t have gone amiss. Eduardo still isn’t sure if he’s going to the shareholders’ meeting. He feels exposed and more than a little self-conscious now that Mark knows.

There’s a package waiting for him when he gets home. It’s from his mother. He opens it and stares at the stuffed monkey. It’s not just the same model, it’s Vitor. The tiny black stain on his right foot, the small repaired rip where his tail joins his body, the slightly faded color of his fur, it’s Vitor. There’s a note in with it.

_Eduardo,_

_Mark Zuckerberg called me. I didn’t know that you two were talking again. He asked about your stuffed monkey, asked if I still had it. I was very surprised, but said that I thought I might. He asked if I could find it and send it to you. I don’t know why he wanted this, but it is yours, so I thought that maybe I should._

_I am very sorry. I always meant to return it to you when I was sure you wouldn’t carry it everywhere with you. I’m afraid that I forgot. Please forgive your mother for her faulty memory._

_Love,  
Mãe_

His mother hadn’t mentioned anything about this the last time they talked. He’ll ask her about it later. Right now, he’s more concerned about the part where _Mark_ called his mother about Vitor. He finds Mark’s number and calls.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Mark.”

“Eduardo?”

“Yes. So, I just received a package from my mother.”

“Did you?”

“Mark, why did you call my mother? And how did you even know she kept Vitor?”

“I took a chance. And you were using it as a metaphor, right?”

“Well, yes.”

“I thought maybe you should know that sometimes you can get back the things you’ve lost.”

“Wow, Mark,” Eduardo says when he can speak without his voice cracking.

“Yeah.”

“What about Gray, who broke because you weren’t careful enough? Was that a metaphor, too?”

“Not entirely intentionally, but yes.”

“So, sometimes things just get broken.”

“Actually, I called my mom and she saved the pieces. It took awhile, but I figured out a way to put everything back together. Not to belabor a point or anything.”

“It’s that simple, huh?”

“Sometimes you take a chance, even if it means getting hit in the face.”

Eduardo laughs. “Okay.”

“Does that mean-“

“I’ll take the chance.”

“Okay,” Mark says softly, sounding happy.

~~~

It does take awhile. And there are stupid fights. Mark works too much and Eduardo is too much of a mother hen. Mark is obstinate and Eduardo is stubborn. Eduardo is still possessive and Mark is still insulting of anything he deems stupid (which is a lot of things). But they get by. They learn each other again. And then they learn to live with each other. Eduardo even learns to put up with Sean. He never spends that much time around Sean and Mark doesn’t expect him to.

Vitor and Gray have a place of honor in their home, although not in their bedroom. Eduardo feels a little silly about that, but Mark agrees (“I think it’s the fact that they have eyes, even if they can’t actually see, it feels like they’re watching.”). They always find them arranged in suggestive positions after Dustin visits. Sometimes Mark looks speculatively at Eduardo before putting them back the way they were. Occasionally, Eduardo will find Gray with something, a little sign that says Sorry, in response to a fight, a tiny present during the holidays, Eduardo’s favorite pen that he keeps misplacing. And one day, Eduardo finds a ring with Gray. He carefully reaches out and picks up the ring. He finds Mark standing in the doorway watching him.

“Is this…”

“Yes.”

“Then, yes, I’ll take the chance.”

Mark smiles wide, dimples showing.

Vitor and Gray have a place of honor at the wedding, too.


	32. Stupid and Implausible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/5147.html?thread=11143451#t11143451): fake Mark/Sean; Eduardo/Mark. triggers: mention of assumed domestic violence. mark and sean pretend to be in a relationship, maybe to keep mark from being hit on by gold diggers or for pr reasons or because it makes their mothers happy idc. but sean still keeps going out and banging strangers, so that everybody assumes he's cheating on mark. eduardo reads about it in the press, but doesn't do anything about it, until a paparazzi takes a picture of mark with a black eye. suddenly there are rumors about sean beating mark in addition to cheating on him. in reality mark simply walked into a door/fell after being wired in. eduardo goes to palo alto to confront sean. protective!and possessive!eduardo plz

At first, it’s just because of this heinous gold digger chick who’s really persistent. Sean’s just trying to be a good friend. He’s the one that brought Mark to the club after all. The thing is, Sean’s pretty sure she’s bribing people to call her up and tell her if Mark is somewhere. She’s shown up in all four of the places Sean’s taken Mark. And she’s just _so_ obvious about it. Normally, Sean likes people who go after what they want without apology, but she can’t seem to understand that Mark isn’t interested. There’s determined and then there’s stalking and harassment. So, Sean makes a loud proclamation about how Mark is his and how he would appreciate it if she would leave Mark alone, or, well, maybe he didn’t put it quite as nicely. Anyway, it works and she leaves. He keeps Mark close the rest of the night, just in case.

Sean is able to convince Mark to come out the next night, too. And he’s happy about it. Mark doesn’t have the hero worship he started out with, but he’s a really good friend and one of the few people in the world that Sean really cares about. Mark’s been working too hard. He overworks himself a lot, but it’s been worse recently. He likes having Mark with him, he likes talking to him and Mark never complains if Sean finds someone to go home with. Which might be a problem tonight because everybody seems to have either seen or heard about the scene last night.

Sean has to figure out what to do because denial never works – people never believe it. Sean gets that a lot of people deny things that are true, but realistically, denial is also going to be the response to things that are false. Sean blames politicians. Sean comes up with a possible solution and runs it by Mark. Mark shrugs. Mark’s response to a lot of things is a shrug. Sometimes it means _Whatever, quit bothering me_ , sometimes it means _No, not really, but it’s not important enough for me to argue about_ , sometimes it means _I really don’t know what to say to that_ , but this one means _I don’t care_. So, Sean finds someone he likes and when she asks about it, he tells her that the way his relationship with Mark works is that Sean can be with whoever he wants as long as he comes back to Mark, but Mark is just with Sean (in case the gold digger chick comes to hear about it). She looks dubious. He brings her over to Mark who confirms it, adding that while he doesn’t have the time or inclination, Sean does and Mark likes him to be happy. She goes with it then.

It works out surprisingly well for Sean because there are no expectations. He asks Mark if it’s okay to keep the pretense up. Mark agrees. And Sean gets to take him out more. And as an added bonus, Sean gets to occasionally grope Mark’s ass (it’s a really nice ass) and he gets to put his hand in Mark’s curls (which he’s done before a couple of times when he was drunk – he doesn’t much care for his own curls, but Mark’s are really soft). Mark’s actually pretty attractive and if Sean were the type for long-term relationships (which, he’s really, really not), he would totally have tried with Mark. Mark, even if he doesn’t really seem like it, is only really built for long-term relationships – he doesn’t play games and he doesn’t do casual.

Sean is a little worried when it goes up on gossip sites, but Mark doesn’t care. Chris cares. Sean hears the tail end of speech he’s giving to Mark that seems to be half concern for his friend and half concern for how it might reflect on Facebook. Dustin cares. He tries to corner Sean, but Sean is a master of avoidance. He finally leaves a voicemail which boils down to _You hurt my friend, I hurt you_. It’s sweet, but Sean still tells Mark. He doesn’t care if Mark tells them the truth or just tells them to lay off Sean, he just doesn’t want to be persona non grata at Facebook.

~~~

Mark was planning on telling both Chris and Dustin, but then his contrariness got the better of him. Mark has never liked being told what to do or what not to do. And he’s never liked being told that a decision or choice that he’d made was wrong. Unfortunately, Chris tells him he shouldn’t date Sean and Dustin tells him it’s a mistake. So, he tells them that it really isn’t any of their business. And then he tells them not to bother Sean about it – it’s their relationship and they’re the only ones who get to define it.

Sean makes a pretty nice fake boyfriend. He’s very attentive until he finds someone. He genuinely likes Mark’s company. He accepts Mark for the person that he is. Mark doesn’t mind going to clubs or fancy restaurants when he’s with Sean. Sean has this way of making Mark feel like he’s actually one of the coolest people in the room. It’s nice to have a friend who isn’t apologizing by words or gestures or expressions for Mark. He knows he’s not like most people with the way he interacts and Sean makes it feel like that difference is okay, not wrong.

~~~

Eduardo sometimes reads about Mark online, even though he really shouldn’t. There’s always an upwelling of nostalgia along with an ache, like an old injury twinging with a change in barometric pressure. It seems apt, thoughts of Mark are like a storm coming in. And when he reads about Mark and Sean, he feels a little bitter and jealous. It’s been years and, still, that jealousy is there. He wonders why they’ve gone public. He tries to put them out of his mind. But now that it’s out there, it seems to be everywhere. When Dustin calls, he debates not answering, sure Dustin wants to talk about it.

“Dustin.”

“Hey, Eduardo. Um, have you seen-“

“Mark and Sean, yes, I’ve seen it. So, they’ve finally acknowledged it.”

“Finally?”

“Yeah, it’s been how many years, now?”

“Years? What are you talking about? It’s been, like, two weeks.”

“What, did they break up and get back together?”

“As far as I know, this is the first time they’ve been… a them.”

“But, I thought, that first house, Sean was living there.”

“Yeah, so were a lot of people. They were just friends back then.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty sure we would’ve noticed them hooking up. I think Mark’s the only one that could ever not notice or not care enough to notice his housemates sleeping together.”

“Oh.”

“Hey, is that why you were so pissed off when you got there?”

“That’s not something I have any desire to talk about.”

“Huh, well, anyway, Mark and Sean. There’s so much wrong with their relationship as it stands.”

“Well, it’s their relationship, if they want an open one…”

“But, that’s just it, it’s just _open_ for Sean. And that just seems messed up.”

Eduardo’s caught a little off-guard by that. “But it’s still theirs to define. If it’s what Mark wants, then it’s what he wants.”

“But what if it isn’t what he wants, what if it’s all that he thinks he can have?”

That’s a really depressing thought. “And what exactly do you want me to do?”

“Talk to him.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Wardo, you’re the only one I think he would listen to.”

Eduardo laughs derisively. “Oh, sure.”

“Look, I know you have your differences – yeah, understatement. But I also know you still care. You’re the only one who could get him to do the things he should have been doing when he didn’t want to.”

“That was then.”

“It could be now.”

“Mark didn’t listen to me there at the end.”

“You didn’t say anything.”

“What?”

“I love you, man. And Mark did screw you over, he did. I’m not making excuses for him. But you weren’t there, you weren’t saying anything.”

“I did. I did. Mark was just being stubborn-“

“No, you were reacting. And really, that’s just Mark. You could have made him listen. I totally get it if you were tired of it, I do. Mark can be exhausting.”

“Are you saying-“

“I just think there was a point where you, _both_ of you, could have sat down and actually _talked_. And not with one of you angry and jet-lagged and the other giddy with progress and sleep deprivation. That’s all. Mark really should’ve made that happen before he decided anything.”

“He should have.”

“You could have, before you froze the account.”

“Well, that would’ve been awfully mature of me,” Eduardo says wryly.

“Yeah.”

“I was just, I felt taken for granted. And I was tired of it.”

“I know. I get it. Sometimes, things build up.”

“Yeah. Why haven’t we talked about this before?”

“Uh, it probably has to do with the fact that after I tried to bring it up, you said, ‘Dustin, if you ever bring it up again, I will never talk to you again.’”

“I said that?”

“You were drunk, but I think you meant it. At the time.”

“Probably, yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“I can’t interfere with his relationship, it’s really not any of my business. I think as long as he’s okay with it, you’re going to have to find a way to be okay with it, too. Just try to be there if it ever isn’t.”

“Yeah, okay.” Dustin sighs. “So, how’s life in New York?”

“I’m enjoying it. Are you still coming up in a few weeks?”

“Hell yeah. Empire State Building, here I come.”

“Again?”

“Shut up. I like it. I can pretend to be King Kong. Or Meg Ryan. Whatever.”

Eduardo laughs.

“Alright, I’ll let you go.”

“Bye, Dustin.

“Bye.”

~~~

Sean goes to Mark’s office to pick him up. Well, kind of. Mark usually drives if he’s not planning to drink much so that he has a way home if Sean finds some other company. Mark’s already shut down his system and is staring off into space. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days. Sean’s seen better looking zombies.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Sean asks.

Mark startles a little. “What? Nothing. Ready to go?”

“Seriously, I know that look. What’s the problem?”

“There’s an issue with the permissions and I can’t figure out what’s wrong,” Mark says, sounding frustrated.

Sean sits on the couch. He starts asking questions. He knows enough about Facebook and coding to ask about general stuff. He knows enough about Mark to know that if he just gets Mark on to the right track, Mark will figure it out. He asks about groups and Mark comes alive. Mark powers his computer up. A few minutes of coding, a couple of quick tests, and Mark is done. He sends a quick email to someone and then powers down. He gets his stuff together, putting his laptop in his bag.

Mark gives a happy, triumphant smile and says, “Thanks.”

Sean smiles back. “No problem.”

Mark is already drooping as they start to leave. Sean’s seen it before, if there’s an issue, Mark can work straight through to solve it, but once it’s done and his brain isn’t endlessly looping through it, he kind of crashes. Mark’s almost stumbling as they head down the stairs. He slips and Sean grabs at his wrist to keep him from falling. Mark grabs at the strap of his bag to keep it from falling and it swings up and smacks him in the face.

“Wow, you okay?” Sean asks.

Mark looks a little dazed. He reaches up and rubs his cheek. “Yeah, I think so.”

“I think I’d better drive.”

Mark blinks, but digs his keys out of his pocket.

Sean sort of guides Mark to his car and they get in. Sean gets the car started and they head off. It takes Mark a few minutes to realize that they’re going in the wrong direction.

“Where are we going?” Mark asks.

“I’m taking you home.”

“I thought we were going out.”

“I don’t feel like going out.”

Mark gives him a skeptical look.

“Okay, _you_ don’t feel like going out.”

Mark smiles a little.

It only takes a few minutes to get to Mark’s house. Sean ushers Mark into the house and drops his keys on the hall table. Then he herds him up to his bedroom. Sean nudges him to take off his hoodie and his shoes and then gets him into bed. He looks at the red mark on Mark’s cheekbone, just under his eye.

“Do you need ice or something?” Sean asks.

Mark’s pretty close to sleep. “What?”

“Your cheek.”

“Oh. No, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

It doesn’t look that bad, so Sean lets it go. “Okay. Night.”

“Night.”

Sean heads downstairs to call a cab. It’s still pretty early (in club terms, anyway).

~~~

Mark wakes up early the next afternoon. His face and his wrist sort of hurt. He pops a couple of painkillers and notices a bracelet of bruises around his wrist. And then he catches a glimpse of his face in the mirror and does a double take. He’d thought that black eye was just what it was called, but all around his eye, it looks _black_ , not purple, black. It’s not that swollen and he isn’t having any trouble seeing. It just looks horrifying. He stares at himself in the mirror for a few seconds and then shakes his head.

He debates what to do. If he goes into the office, he can probably get enough done in a few hours to be able to work from home through Tuesday. He figures the bruising will have faded some by then and maybe by then he can find a way to cover it up. And it’s Saturday, so there will be only minimal staff at Facebook. He puts on a long-sleeved shirt and hoodie with his cargo pants and flip flops. He finds his keys and drives over.

Through a combination of his hoodie’s hood, strategically shifting his head, and scratching his nose to use his hand as camouflage, he makes it to his office without anyone seeing and commenting on his eye. He looks at the glass walls and hits the control to make the glass go opaque. There’s something about being a visible presence that he really likes, so he doesn’t use it that often, but he thinks the smart glass is cool. He starts to go through paperwork.

Several hours later, there’s a knock at his door. He gets up and positions himself so that the black eye won’t be visible and open the door a few inches. It’s Sean. He moves back, opening the door all the way. Sean steps in and he closes the door behind him.

“What happened to your office?” Sean asks, looking confused.

“There’s a… here,” Mark says and toggles the control so the glass is transparent and then opaque again.

“Oh, hey, that’s cool.”

“Yeah.”

When Mark turns around, Sean studies his face. “It looks even worse in person,” Sean says, making a face.

“In person?”

“I’m going to send you a link, check your email.”

Mark gets back on his computer, finds the email and clicks on the link. Up comes a picture of him getting out of his car and story speculating how he got the black eye. There’s some awful insinuation that maybe Sean hit him.

Mark cringes. “That’s- I’m-“

“Not your fault. People sure don’t think I’m any damn good.”

“Hey, they don’t know you and this kind of thing gets attention.”

“Exactly.”

“Shit. Do you think people would stop caring what I did if I sold Facebook?”

“Hell no. Not only would you still be the guy who invented Facebook, you’d be the guy who _sold_ Facebook.”

Mark groans.

“I think we should get out of here. There’s probably photographers on their way, if they aren’t here already.”

“Yeah. I can do anything else I need to from home for the next few days,” Mark says and he shuts things down. He gathers files he needs and his laptop and puts them in his bag. Sean grabs his bag before he can pick it up. He looks at Sean. 

“Just in case,” Sean says with a shrug.

“It’s not going to happen again.”

“Better not.”

“Hold on. I need to leave Chris a voicemail,” Mark says. He calls Chris’ work number and waits for the beep. “Hey, Chris, Mark. You’ve probably seen the story. It’s not true. Sean has never hit me. I’ll get back to you when I can figure out something to release to the press that doesn’t sound quite as stupid as what actually happened. Oh, and I’ll be working from home at least through Tuesday. Bye.” Mark hangs up.

“That’s all you’re going to say?”

“For now.”

“Okay.”

~~~

Eduardo doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. He just knows that his reaction to that picture means that he doesn’t _just_ care about Mark. He is, against all reason, foolishly, desperately, irrevocably in love with Mark. He is so stupid. And he’s on a flight to San Francisco.

It’s almost noon by the time he reaches Mark’s house. Eduardo doesn’t have any words planned out. He’d tried to come up with something – something rational and reasonable and, most of all, calm. But he’d kept losing the thread of it. He’s hoping that Dustin was right, that Mark will listen to him. He rings the doorbell and, after a few moments, the door opens a crack.

“Wardo?” Mark asks, sounding bewildered.

“Mark.”

“Are you going to let me in?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ve seen the picture. Your eye. You don’t have to hide behind the door.”

Mark sighs and opens the door wide.

Eduardo steps in and Mark closes the door. The bruising looks awful and Eduardo can’t help staring. Mark brings a hand up to touch it. He says something, but Eduardo doesn’t hear him. He’s fixated on Mark’s wrist. On the bruises that look like someone grabbed him in a brutal hold. He had tried to keep perspective, told himself there could be any number of explanations, but he can’t think of anything that would explain this. Mark stops talking. Eduardo half reaches out towards his wrist, but stops.

Mark notices. “Oh, no, it’s not what you think.”

Eduardo’s looking at Mark’s face. He tries to find the perfect words. Words that will convince Mark to let Eduardo help him. He feels terribly inadequate and sort of devastated. And then Sean casually walks out of the kitchen.

“Hey, Mark, do-“ Sean breaks off when he sees them.

Eduardo charges toward him and Mark gets in front of him, trying to hold him back. Mark may not be quite as fragile as he sometimes looks, but Eduardo’s got a few inches and a few pounds on him. Eduardo keeps advancing. Sean backs up.

“Stop!” Mark yells.

Eduardo does, surprised.

“Look, Sean did not hit me,” Mark says slowly, emphasizing each word.

“And I suppose he had nothing to do with the bruises on your arm?” Eduardo asks sarcastically.

“Well, those he did do,” Mark says.

Eduardo tries to dodge around him to get to Sean.

“Eduardo, _listen_ ,” Mark says, demanding his attention.

Eduardo looks at Mark, focuses on him.

“I slipped on the stairs. Sean grabbed my arm to keep me from falling. My bag swung up and whacked me in the face.”

Eduardo blinks at him. “Mark, that sounds-“

“Stupid and implausible. The truth often is,” Mark says, exasperated.

“And that’s the truth?” Eduardo asks.

“That’s the truth,” Mark states flatly.

“I knew you didn’t like me, Eduardo, but to think that I would hit Mark? Wow,” Sean pipes up, sounding a little hurt.

“I don’t even know you, how the hell could I decide what you’re capable of?” Eduardo asks.

“Okay, that’s true enough, I guess. But, still, I’m not the one in the room who’s threatened violence on someone else in the room,” Sean says.

Eduardo snorts.

Sean looks at Mark. “Okay, well, it’s been fun, but I think this is the end of the road for the fake boyfriends thing.”

Mark gives Sean a faint smile. “Yeah, I’ll figure out something to tell the press and then I’ll let you know.”

“Alright. I’m going to go. You’ll be okay?” Sean asks, looking between Mark and Eduardo.

“Yeah,” Mark says.

“Okay. Are we still on for dinner next week?” Sean asks.

“Sure. I’ll see you then,” Mark says.

Sean gives Mark a little salute and a half nod to Eduardo. “Later,” he says and leaves.

“Fake boyfriends?” Eduardo asks.

“There was this woman, oh, it doesn’t matter. Yes, fake.”

“Huh,” Eduardo says and looks at Mark contemplatively.

“What?”

“Dustin told me you weren’t with Sean in that first house. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but now, I think I do.”

“Of course I wasn’t. Wait, how is that any of your business? You had a girlfriend. Why would it have mattered if I was with someone?”

“Oh, come on, Mark. If you had snapped fingers, I would have come running. You knew that. Everyone knew that.”

“I- You- What? Everyone?”

“I wasn’t exactly subtle.”

“I didn’t know. Mostly because you didn’t,” Mark says.

“I didn’t what?”

“Come running. You were in New York.”

“You didn’t snap your fingers.”

“I asked.”

“You did. I guess, I guess I was trying not to be that guy. Trying not to be someone you took for granted, someone who was always there,” Eduardo says.

“But that’s what I needed.”

“Someone to take for granted?”

“Someone who was there.”

Eduardo sighs.

“Anyway, um, thanks,” Mark says.

“For what?”

“For coming here to, I don’t know, rescue me. Even if I didn’t need saving.”

Eduardo laughs self-deprecatingly. “I still- Well, I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Mark nods.

“I think I’m going to go,” Eduardo says.

“Oh, okay.”

Eduardo heads for the door. Just before he gets there, he hears a snapping noise. He turns back to look at Mark. Mark looks at him and very deliberately raises his hand and snaps his fingers. Eduardo doesn’t know how to react.

“Oh, it doesn’t work anymore, huh? Worth a try,” Mark says.

“Try again.”

Mark snaps his fingers again and Eduardo is over in front of him as fast as he can be. Mark opens his mouth to say something. Eduardo sweeps him into a kiss and Mark kisses him back. Mark clutches at him. Eduardo tries to put all of his longing, all of his want, into the kiss. Mark responds eagerly. Eduardo tears his lips away, breathing hard. Mark tries to pull him back.

Eduardo stops him. “Wait, I want…” He tugs at the hem of Mark’s t-shirt.

“Oh, yeah, okay,” Mark says and lifts his arms.

Eduardo strips off the shirt and then starts to unbutton his own. Mark reaches out and runs a finger down the skin revealed and Eduardo shudders. He finally gets all of the buttons undone and shrugs off the shirt. Then he looks at Mark’s red, perfect lips and has to kiss him again. He pushes down Mark’s sweatpants and underwear and wraps a hand around his hard dick. Mark gives a little moan into his mouth. Eduardo runs his hand down to the head and gathers the pre-come. He slides his hand slowly all the way to the root. Then he proceeds to jerk Mark fast and ruthlessly. Mark fingers dig into his shoulders. Eduardo pulls back from the kiss so that he can watch. Mark has his eyes closed and his face tilted up. Another few pulls and Mark comes. It’s messy and amazing.

Eduardo leans in and puts his mouth next to Mark’s ear. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that. I was so jealous of Sean when I thought that you two were together,” he whispers and then pulls back.

Mark opens his eyes and dazedly looks at Eduardo. “You could have done that anytime you wanted. And a lot of other things, too.”

Eduardo smiles. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“Do you want an annotated list?”

“Practical demonstration will do.”

“Bedroom. Upstairs.”

“Let’s go.”

Mark steps out of his pants and underwear and leads the way. It only takes a few moments for Eduardo to rid himself of the rest of his clothes and then Mark goes on to show him a few of the things that he could have done.

Several hours later, Eduardo’s pleasantly sore and he feels like he could drift off. He’s lying next to Mark with an arm curled around him. Eduardo looks at Mark’s eye and reminds himself to check later and see if he can find anything to reduce the bruising. Mark absently moves his fingers over the skin of Eduardo’s arm as he stares off into space. 

“What are you thinking about?” Eduardo asks.

“Trying to come up with a story for the press, about my eye.”

“How about the truth?”

“They’ll never believe that.”

“Okay, say… another shareholder got into an argument with Sean and you tried to intervene and you were accidentally hit. Salacious enough?”

“The other shareholder being you?”

“Yes.”

“They’ll never believe it was only over Facebook.”

“Won’t they?”

“They’ll think you were fighting over me.”

“Will they?”

“You’re only okay with that because you’ll look like the winner.”

“Will I?”

“I’ll talk to Sean. Smug isn’t a good look on you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Mark looks at him consideringly. “I much prefer you looking completely exhausted from sex.”

“I don’t think you’ve seen that yet.”

“I’d like to, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“By all means.”


	33. Not Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/5147.html?thread=11186715#t11186715): Eduardo/Mark, mentions of past Mark/Other Warning for mentions of past partner abuse, maybe PTSD? When Mark was in high school, he dated a boy with a really quick temper; usually that quick temper was directed at Mark and involved his fists and boots. He tells himself he's been over it for years, but being on the receiving end of Eduardo's temper once brings everything back; he can no longer look Eduardo in the eye for long periods of time; he flinches when Eduardo moves too suddenly; he really, really just can't be around Eduardo at all, is what it all comes down to. Which wasn't a problem because Eduardo definitely didn't notice during the depositions, but now he's been coming around a lot more, and Dustin and Chris have been making noise about a reconciliation and Mark just. He just can't. And maybe it's not fair because they don't know, he never told anyone, and anyway, Eduardo and him weren't even like that, so it's not like it would be the same thing, but sometimes he wanted to be and he's pretty sure Eduardo did, too, but. He just can't. [Continued in notes.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mark was abused by the only boy he ever dated back in high school. He never told anyone about it, and he figured he got over it fine and it's been years, anyway, but Eduardo yelling at him and smashing his laptop and being so violent brought everything back and now he's unable to move past that but he still doesn't want to talk about it. This anon definitely would not say no to Sean seeing the way he's acting and maybe having some experience (maybe he dated a girl who had been hit by someone?) and talks to him about it because sweet!Sean is seriously my favorite thing ever. I just think this could be so amazing and sad and amazing and, yeah. Oh, Mark, the things we do to you.

Mark doesn’t even see him coming. His laptop is being picked up and then slammed down before Mark even knows what’s happening. And Eduardo’s so angry. Mark spits out something about bad business decisions, trying to get Eduardo to leave. He does, but not before almost hitting Sean. Mark is up and out of his chair and in the bathroom before anyone can say anything. His hands are shaking. He looks at himself in the mirror and one of the florescent bulbs flickers. For a second there, it looks like his face is bruised. He blinks and it’s gone. But it lingers in his mind’s eye.

He could never figure out why he kept Eduardo at a distance, not much of one, but a distance. Eduardo is (was?) his best friend. Mark’s always had a certain emotional detachment. And he’d let Eduardo in, closer than most, but not all the way. He hadn’t realized why until just now. He’d never seen Eduardo as violent, so Eduardo’s charm and his emotional reactions hadn’t really pinged. He wonders if he can blame it on what his mother does. He has such a distaste for analyzing his own feelings and behavior (or anybody’s, really). Like Eduardo, Barry had been charming and passionate. He’d also had a temper.

~~~

Barry had been friendly with almost everyone at school, but not really close to anyone. Mark had been really surprised that Barry had even talked to him. Barry had laughed at the things he’d said. Barry had been really nice, at first. For the first couple of months that they had dated, Barry had been very considerate and caring. And the first time he’d hit Mark, he’d been so sweetly apologetic that Mark had forgiven him. It had gotten worse and Barry had always had an excuse. Mark hadn’t told anybody and had done his best to hide it. At some point, though, Mark had realized that it could only get worse and he’d started pulling away. That had only made Barry try to hold on harder. It had only been when Barry had nearly put Mark in the hospital and Mark had thought that Barry was going to kill him that Mark had decided he had to tell somebody. Except, it had turned out that he didn’t have to. After a night of partying, Barry had wrapped his car around a tree. Mark had been so glad and a little guilty to feel so glad. After that, he had taken the whole experience and put it in a box in his head and locked it away.

~~~

Mark has trouble looking at Eduardo during the depositions. When he can, he just zones out, thinking about code, thinking about how his newest employees are fitting in, thinking about upcoming birthdays, thinking about anything that will distract him. He’s having trouble sleeping. Each night he locks the door, sets the alarm, goes to his bedroom, locks that door, then locks himself in the en suite bathroom, and watches the door. Logically, he knows that Eduardo isn’t going to come over and even if he did, Mark wouldn’t have to let him in, just like logically he knows that Barry is dead and won’t be coming back. But somehow, he can’t quite convince himself not to be scared.

It’s like, now that he’s thought about it, that box in his head won’t stay closed. He thinks about Barry at odd times. Sometimes he remembers the things that he did. Sometimes Barry turns into Eduardo. Mark really needs the depositions to be over. He needs to not hear Eduardo’s upset voice in the same room. Someone’s going to notice that something’s wrong. Actually, Sean has already noticed. He hasn’t really said anything, but now, when really loud noises sometimes leave him shaking, Sean sort of talks him down just by talking about whatever random thing pops into his head. 

His relationship with Sean had been very rocky there for awhile and Mark won’t ever have Sean up on a pedestal again. But Sean did help him get where he is and Mark won’t forget that. And, for whatever reason, Sean seems to genuinely like Mark and want to hang around him. Chris and Dustin, while still his friends, haven’t quite gotten over Eduardo’s ousting, so it’s nice to be around someone who doesn’t really do the awkward silence thing.

Strangely, the idea of a settlement doesn’t really occur to him until Marylin Delpy mentions it. He had been thinking about a legal battle and having to testify. Settling seems a little like surrendering, but if he’s not going to win anyway, even if he’s right, then he might as well. And maybe he won’t have to see Eduardo. Maybe he can put this all behind him.

~~~

It’s better, not having to see Eduardo. Mark always psychs himself up for shareholders’ meetings, but, so far, Eduardo hasn’t attended any. Mark kind of wants to thank Eduardo when he moves to Singapore, which would be a really stupid thing to do on so many different levels. But he just doesn’t feel as… safe as he once did. So, despite his distaste for it, he tries therapy. He knows it’s helped some people and he really doesn’t want to get to a place where he can’t function. Talking about it is hard and he doesn’t feel any better getting it out, just sort of empty. And his therapist doesn’t tell him anything he doesn’t already know, so he doesn’t go back.

Mark just tries to let things go on as they will. When Chris or Dustin mentions Eduardo, he doesn’t precisely ignore it, just lets it skate lightly across his mind before banishing it. It gets harder when Eduardo starts to show up at events and then shareholders’ meetings, but as he doesn’t really look at Mark or try to speak to him, Mark handles it.

~~~

Chris and Dustin cajole him out to dinner after a shareholders’ meeting. He almost backs right out of the restaurant when he sees Eduardo, but Dustin keeps hold of his shoulder and gets him to the table. Eduardo is obviously surprised by Mark’s presence. Mark sits stiffly down at the table, not willing to make a scene. Chris and Dustin do their best to keep up a conversation and after a few minutes, Eduardo’s sense of politeness seems to get the better of him and he starts contributing. Mark can barely choke out short replies to anything directed at him, so he mostly goes with nods and head shakes. Dustin starts to look worried and apologetic as it goes on, especially when Mark only orders a drink. Chris looks a little upset and even Eduardo’s beginning to look concerned. Mark can’t bring himself to be at all reassuring because it’s taking most of his control to sit still and not flinch when Eduardo moves a little too fast, to not draw back when his voice rises a bit.

Dustin’s saying something and Eduardo reaches out to Mark. Mark sort of jumps back, out of his seat, knocking the chair over. Chris, Dustin, and Eduardo all stare at him. Actually, the whole restaurant has gone quiet and it seems like everyone is staring at him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Sean is there. He laughs loudly and says something about a prank and makes a weird face at Chris. Chris blinks and then laughs his fake laugh. Dustin and Eduardo join in and the rest of the restaurant goes back to whatever they were doing. Sean puts the chair back upright and tells Chris, Dustin, and Eduardo that he’s taking Mark home. Chris nods and then Dustin does, too. Eduardo frowns, but doesn’t say anything.

Sean doesn’t touch Mark. He doesn’t crowd him or loom up over him which is just as well because Mark’s pretty sure he would bolt if Sean did. He just gestures for Mark to follow him. Mark follows him to his car and gets in after Sean unlocks it. Sean gets in, starts the car, and drives. Mark is quiet, trying to calm down. Sean doesn’t say anything until he pulls up to Mark’s house.

“So, awhile back, years now, I dated this really sweet girl, woman. She was smart and pretty.”

“Okay,” Mark says, confused.

“She didn’t like it when people yelled around her, even if it was just on TV. And sometimes she would flinch back when someone got too close to her. And she almost hyperventilated this one time we ran into someone who smelled like he’d bathed in some cheap cologne.”

“Oh yeah?”

“See, she had this bastard of an ex who used to hit her. And even though she’d left him, there were these things that would bring her right back to that time when she was still with him.”

“That sucks,” Mark says quietly.

“Yeah, it does. Thing is, she couldn’t help what those things were. It didn’t matter who was yelling or if they had a good reason, it affected her.”

“Did it ever get better for her?”

“Some.”

“I, there was a guy. In high school. Barry. He was- It got bad. But, Eduardo’s not Barry.”

“No, he’s not. But he scared you. And even if you think he wouldn’t hurt you, you don’t _know_ it. And that’s okay.”

“I can’t go around being scared of everyone I meet.”

“Are you?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Look, Eduardo acted out in a violent way. It makes sense that you would want to stay away from someone who’s been violent in front of you.”

“I don’t think that he would hit me.”

“Alright. But it’s still okay to stay away from him until you absolutely believe it.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“It’s also not fair that being around him causes you so much… distress.”

“How did you know he scared me?”

“You ran for the bathroom after his big scene and you were white as a sheet when you came back. Loud noises seem to do a number on you and I thought that was probably from the whole laptop slamming business.”

“Oh.”

“Sometimes your hands shake after he’s been around. They’re shaking now.”

Mark looks down at his hands and is surprised to see that Sean’s right. “Do you think- Did they notice?”

“I think they probably know something’s up and that it has something to do with Eduardo. I don’t think they have any idea what it is,” Sean says sympathetically.

“Oh.”

“I know they’re your friends, but you don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want to, anything you’re not ready to.”

Mark snorts.

“Seriously.”

“Somehow, I don’t think they’ll just let it go. Chris and Dustin have been making noises about me and Eduardo making up for a while now. Hey, um, that reminds me, what were you doing at that restaurant?”

“I might have overheard Dustin making plans and I may have wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

Mark smiles a little. “Ah.”

“So, I’m really tired all of a sudden. I don’t suppose I can crash here?”

“I’m fine, you don’t need to stay.”

“I’m really tired. Come on, Mark, sometimes a guy just needs a place to lay his head.”

“Yeah, alright. Um, thanks for, um, just thanks.”

“Whatever. I expect breakfast in the morning.”

“I’m already putting you up for the night and now I have to cook for you?” 

“Yes.”

“Fine,” Mark says, trying to sound as put upon as he can, even though he’d cook Sean a million breakfasts with how grateful he’s feeling.

~~~

The next day, Eduardo calls. Mark takes a deep breath before he answers. “Hello.”

“Hello, Mark. I have some questions.”

“Yeah.”

“During the depositions, I thought that you were afraid of what I might say or that you were afraid for Facebook. But that wasn’t it, was it?”

Mark swallows. “No.”

“You were afraid of _me_ , weren’t you?” Eduardo asks, sounding upset.

Mark just breathes for a few seconds and then says, “Yes.”

“Why?”

“I, I, I can’t.”

“Please.”

“I, you, the laptop and then you almost hit and I just, I…”

“What?” Eduardo asks, sounding thoroughly confused.

Mark gathers himself. He can do this. He can explain. “There was this guy. This guy I dated. At first, it was good, nice. But he had a temper and he used to, he…” Mark can’t get any more out.

“Did he, did he hit you?” Eduardo asks in a thin voice.

“Yeah,” Mark breathes out.

“Mark, how could you think that I-“

Mark ends the call as Eduardo’s voice rises. The phone rings and he lets it go to voicemail. After a few minutes, he gets a text.

It’s from Eduardo. _It took me a minute to realize I probably shouldn’t yell. Delete the voicemail you just got._

Mark types back. _Okay._

_I’m still a little angry with you, but I’d never hurt you. You have to know that._

Mark thinks for a moment, then types. _I don’t really think you would physically hurt me. But I don’t know it._

_Physically, yes. I guess we’re pretty good at the other kind of hurt. Is texting okay? And email?_

_Why does it matter?_

_I’m still a little angry, but I miss you. I’ve hated not talking to you. I can’t stand that you’re afraid of me._

_Texting and emailing are okay._

_Good._

~~~

So, they email and text each other. Slowly, at first, then with some regularity. Eduardo doesn’t try to call and doesn’t try to approach him when they end up in the same place. Chris and Dustin don’t try to push. It gets a little better. Mark talks to Sean and it helps. Oddly, when he finds out that Eduardo talks to Sean too, it helps even more.

They write things that they never talked to each other about. They write about everything that went wrong. Mark writes about Barry. Eduardo writes about his father. It feels like Mark’s getting to know him better than he’s known anyone. It still takes months before Mark’s comfortable being in the same room with Eduardo. It takes even longer for Mark to feel at ease about actually going up to Eduardo. But when he does, he gets a blinding smile.

It’s not perfect. Mark still has issues with really loud noises which Eduardo feels guilty about. It takes forever before they can actually argue without Mark having to leave. But they both work at it. It’s not perfect, but that’s okay, it’s them.


	34. Not Opposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/6467.html?thread=12427843#t12427843%0A): Eduardo/Mark. The thing is, when Facebook really started taking off, Mark didn't have time to think about his (ex) best friend. He didn't have time to obsessively follow Eduardo's Facebook, or drunkenly write up emails to him that he'd never send, or any of a number of things he knew Dustin and Chris actually secretly hoped for. Really, he didn't have time for anything but Facebook because he was a fucking young CEO and he needed to be taken seriously, and it was a lot of hard work that a lot of people didn't understand. It's what made having Sean around so great, and he hated that Dustin and Chris still resented his presence so much and couldn't just grow the fuck up because Sean was a godsend, he really was. Half of what he told Mark was what not to do, but he was the best source of advice and now that the hero worship was gone and Sean had mostly cleaned up his act, he was probably Mark's best friend (as much as he could have one, because again, Mark was fucking busy, but at least Sean got that). [Continued in notes.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So no, Mark wasn't drowning his sorrows in beer and asking Dustin and Chris for any spec of information on Eduardo he could get his hands on, he was running a multi-billion dollar company like a fucking boss. And, well, Mark could compartmentalize with the best of them and he and Eduardo had been friends for such a relatively short amount of time, he wasn't going to spend his life pining for the ex-best friend who now hated him. What it all comes down to, he thinks, is that it's not his fault (and fuck Sean so hard for laughing for so long) that when whoever that nameless fucking businessman at the gala Mark and a whole bunch of Facebook employees were at last night, mentioned Eduardo Mark responded absently, but obviously sincerely, with, "Eduardo who?" The silence that followed may have only lasted a few seconds, except for Sean's quickly muffled snort as he excused himself to go laugh in the bathroom (he never forgave Eduardo for the laptop thing, Mark could understand that) but it was deafening. Because Eduardo? Not so good with the compartmentalizing. And he had been asking Dustin and Chris about Mark, not obsessively, but weekly, at least. And he had made sure to watch his interviews to make sure Mark was eating and sleeping enough (no for both, of course) and had seen him whenever he was caught unawares by the paparazzi, and jesus christ, it had only been a few years since the settlement and they were best friends. There was no way Eduardo wouldn't hear about this. ...sorry, Eduardo. Me thinks you might need to make Mark feel your presence, hmmmmmm? I don't know, maybe this was a kind of light hearted prompt but I want some angst. I see a lot of stories where Mark is always hacking Eduardo's Facebook and has like, files of unsent emails and all that, and whatever, I like that sometimes, but really? He was probably insanely busy when Facebook first started and I doubt he had that much time to think about his ex best friend once the settlement was done with, and I know it's fun for fic, but they really weren't friends for that long which yes, okay, doesn't really matter when it comes to True Love, but I want something where Eduardo wants back into Mark's life after realizing he wasn't as big a part of it as he thought, or something? Which he totally was, but like I mentioned above, Mark's been fucking busy and he compartmentalizes shit so, you know, there's that. And he can be like, great, you want to be friends again, but why? ...or something?

Eduardo feels like the top of his head is going to come off. He’s so angry. He wants to hit something, someone. He wishes Sean Parker was right here in front of him. No, actually, he doesn’t want to hit anyone. What he really wishes is that Mark was here so he could shake him. Shake him until his teeth rattle, until there’s something other than a blank expression on his face. Eduardo wants to shake Mark until he acknowledges Eduardo, until he sees him.

It’s not just that they were best friends. Although, they were. It’s not that they ended in such a spectacular blowout of betrayal and destruction and lawsuits. Although, they certainly did that. It’s that Eduardo put so much into it. So much emotion and time and effort. It’s that he still thinks about and worries about and _cares_ about Mark. And that Mark could ever, would ever, have to ask, “Eduardo who?” It’s like a slap to the face – shocking, painful, awful. Like Eduardo doesn’t matter, like he never mattered.

It’s not right. It’s not fair. And to add insult to injury, he gets to hear about it several times over - from well-intentioned friends and not-so-well-intentioned “friendly” business rivals. He gets to hear about how Mark had looked completely blank, how Sean Parker had started laughing and had to excuse himself, how Mark had looked surprised at the ensuing silence, how he had nodded vaguely after someone had said, “Saverin.” 

It has to have meant something. _He_ has to have meant something. To Mark. Eduardo is going to make sure that Mark recognizes that.

~~~

Eduardo decides on a frontal attack and shows up at the Facebook offices. He is calm and polite when he tells the person at the front desk that he’s there to see Mark Zuckerberg, but he doesn’t have an appointment. He gives his name and a phone call is made. He’s escorted to Mark’s office.

Mark’s waiting for him. Mark studies his face after they’re left alone in his office. Mark presses a couple of keys on the laptop in front of him and then closes it and hugs it to his chest as he eyes Eduardo warily.

Eduardo grimaces. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“That’s not your wanting-to-talk-about-something face, that’s your wanting-to-yell face.”

Eduardo snorts even as a small part of him rejoices that Mark can recognize that. “Maybe I do _want_ to yell, but I’m going to do my level best to have a calm and rational discussion with you.”

“I have a meeting that I have to attend in about ten minutes.”

That’s really not enough time. Maybe Eduardo should have planned this a little better. “I could wait.”

“Does it have to be here?” Mark asks and looks significantly at the glass walls and the people beyond them trying not to be obvious about their interest in what’s going on in Mark’s office.

It had seemed like the right place, like the only place, but maybe it’s not. “No, I guess not.” He thinks about it and a restaurant might have the same issues and he doesn’t really want to go to Mark’s place. “Um, my hotel?”

Mark considers it and then nods. “I probably won’t be able to get away until after seven.”

Eduardo nods. “I’m at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley.”

~~~

Eduardo’s not sure about this any more. Maybe he could just go, leave a message at the front desk and just go back to his life. All these doubts are bubbling up. What if he’s wrong? But there’s a knock at the door and it’s too late to run. Eduardo lets Mark in and closes the door behind him. They look at each other for a moment.

“Were we friends?” Eduardo blurts out.

Mark frowns. “What?”

“Were we friends?” Eduardo asks, not sure how he keeps his voice from cracking.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Aren’t you?”

Eduardo feels drained as he says, “No, not really.”

“What’s this about?”

“I heard, no, I was told about your little… memory lapse.”

“Oh.”

“I wanted, _needed_ to know how that could be, if I ever meant anything. I mean, I think about you, worry about you. And you obviously don’t, about me.” And Eduardo hates how pathetic that makes him sound, but he doesn’t try to take it back. It is pathetic and it’s also true.

Mark opens his mouth and then closes it a couple of times. He sighs. “I was twenty,” he says quietly.

“What?”

“I was twenty and I was CEO. We were expanding so fast. It was suddenly real. I had employees that needed salaries and benefits and insurance. I had users, a lot of users, that wanted everything to work. I had investors that put in a lot of money and had expectations. And there was coding to be done. I was working sixteen, eighteen hour days, every day, and it didn’t feel like enough. If I failed, it would have affected so many people, so I couldn’t fail. I was so busy. And after a while it got a little easier, but it didn’t get less. There were times, there still are times, when it feels like I’m too busy to breathe. I put you, thoughts of you, away and dealt with the things that I could deal with.”

“Away?”

“Yes, away. What are you looking for here? What do you want?”

“What do I want? That’s a good question. Once upon a time, I wanted Facebook to be ours, something that I helped you create, but it’s not, is it? I mean, I was there at the beginning and I helped, but it’s yours. It’s all wrapped up in you, like you’re all wrapped up in it. What do I want now?”

“Yes.”

“I want Sean Parker to have something really annoying happen to him every day for the rest of his life. I want my father to tell me how proud he is of me. I want to not worry so much what other people think of me. But those things probably aren’t going to happen. What do I want from you? I want to be friends again.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why, if you aren’t even sure we _were_ friends? Why, when I was trying to do the right thing for Facebook and all you saw was betrayal? Why, when you only come to me because something I said made you angry? You may have thought about me, worried about me, but you haven’t talked to me in years. So, why?”

Eduardo rubs at his forehead and feels like he wants to cry. He silently curses his overly emotional response to Mark’s words. He takes a deep breath and says, “Because I have a lot of friends, but none of them ever make me feel half as much as you did. Because you still matter to me, no matter what you’ve done or how long it’s been and I don’t think that’s ever going to change. Because I liked it when you needed me, even if it was a lie. Because I miss you, even if you don’t miss me. I, I don’t want to be just a footnote in your life story, I can’t be.”

“I did need you, but then you were gone, so I couldn’t. And of course I miss you, but I can’t think about that.”

Eduardo stares at Mark, trying to understand.

“I had a company to run and I couldn’t fix anything with you, so I put it away,” Mark says.

“Mark, you can’t just do that.”

“No, _you_ can’t do that. What good does worrying about anything do? Does it help anything? Does it make anything better? What good does it do to think about something you can’t solve?”

“But you could have solved it. You could have fixed it. All you had to do was apologize and tell me that you messed up and that you really did love me, but you were jealous about the Phoenix. And ask me if we could be friends again and give me back what was mine.” Eduardo sighs. “All I wanted was for you to want us to, I don’t know, move in together and spend time with each other every day, and then cuddle and watch something stupid on TV. I was just waiting for you to say it.”

Mark blinks at him. “I never would’ve thought to say that.”

“Yeah, I suppose it doesn’t sound much like you.” Eduardo gives him a half-smile.

Mark studies him for a few seconds. “I’m sorry you were hurt. I fucked up. I do love you and I was jealous, but that wasn’t the reason, not really. Do you want to be friends again?”

Eduardo is so surprised all he can do is gape at Mark for a moment. He shakes himself out of it and says, “I, yes. Yes, I do.”

“I don’t watch that much TV, but we could spend time with each other.”

Eduardo’s smiling so wide that his cheeks are starting to hurt. “That would be good.”

“The, uh, moving in together and cuddling seem like a little more than friends.”

“That part was just-“

“But I’m not opposed.”

“You’re not? Wait, not opposed like you’ll put up with it or not opposed like it’s something that you want too?”

“The latter.”

“Really?”

Mark nods.

Eduardo grabs him and pulls him into a hug. Mark stiffens at first, but then relaxes into it. Eduardo says softly into his ear, “I’m going to be terrible. I’m going to make sure you get enough sleep and eat actual food. Sixteen or eighteen hour days will not be the norm. If there is not a genuine emergency, I will come and drag you home after twelve hours. I will make you take at least one day off a week. I will put up with Sean, but I will expect a warning when he’s coming over. And if you ever ask ‘Eduardo who?’ again I will get Dustin to do something horrible to your Facebook page.”

“Facebook will come first a lot. I won’t always understand when I’ve said or done something wrong, so you may need to explain it. I won’t be nice to your father. I will try to have more balance to my life. I won’t put you away anymore,” Mark replies.

“I can live with that,” Eduardo says and turns his head a little to kiss Mark’s temple. He holds on a little tighter, so filled with joy, he could burst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I paraphrased Andrew Garfield’s desired outcome for Eduardo from [here](http://www.sfbg.com/pixel_vision/2010/09/28/why-social-network-isnt-just-facebook-movie) for Eduardo’s little speech on how Mark could have fixed it.


	35. There’s Something About Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/6467.html?thread=12118851#t12118851%0A): [GEN] or Mark/Other. Mark spends so much of his time focusing only on his work, that when he gives his attention to something else...well, everyone in his life is a little possessive of him, is the thing. He's just never noticed. I really don't know what I want from this. I know that I want it to be post-canon, for Mark to be completely oblivious that his friends fight over his attention...I don't even know. I don't want it to have an And the One Person Mark Was Possessive Of, because I like my Mark to be totally O__o (which, okay, that might not make sense, really, but it does in my head. I don't think anything about this prompt makes sense though, so that's okay.) Oh, and this anon has a not so secret love for Sean Parker, just saying.

The thing is, Mark is not good at social interaction. He’s not and he knows he’s not. It’s not that he doesn’t like people (well, there are a fair number that he doesn’t like) or want to make the effort (well, occasionally), it’s just that he’s so much inside his head that he’s mostly disengaged from the world around him. He misses social cues and has trouble reading people when they aren’t being blatant about how they feel. He tries to surround himself with people who are much better at it so that they can offset it.

One day, though, Mark wakes up. Not like a fairy tale awakening or anything, just one day, he becomes aware of the people around him acting… oddly. He can count at least six people in the room glaring at his phone. But he can’t figure out why. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about his phone. He’s been texting Bill Gates and they’ve kind of been snarking at each other. The guy’s a lot funnier than anyone would think. And it’s not like he usually pays much attention during these meetings, although, generally, he’s on his laptop checking the site or coding something and he’s never looked up to find people glaring at it. He wonders what’s so different about being on the phone. Maybe they don’t like who he’s texting. But he can’t imagine any of them know. Perhaps the fact that he’s texting anyone at all. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s not obviously doing something for Facebook. It is a shareholders’ meeting and he is CEO. But then wouldn’t a lot more people be upset? And they don’t seem to be upset with him or, well, they aren’t glaring at _him_.

Maybe they’re upset that something, no, some _one_ , has his attention. He almost dismisses the thought out of hand, but stops and considers it. He lets his mind tick over the thought. He comes up with more than a few instances where there was a possibility that someone might have been jealous of his attention being elsewhere. Many of Dustin’s antics, Chris’ freak outs, Sean’s meltdowns, Eduardo’s upsets could have been bids for attention, _Mark’s_ attention. Even the Winklevosses’ incessant emailing and need to stop him whenever either of them ran into him could be attributed to wanting his attention. But, why? It’s puzzling, but Mark likes puzzles. He needs to think about this.

~~~

Mark goes straight to his office after the meeting and tells his assistant, Joanna, that he has a problem he needs to work through and not to disturb him unless it’s site-going-down urgent. He sits and thinks, goes over memories, ponders confusing behaviors. It seems to fit, but that could just be because he hasn’t got enough information. Perhaps an experiment – maybe spend time actively paying attention to someone? He rolls that around in his head. Well, he doesn’t think it could hurt anything and it could give him some answers. The question now is: who? He writes up a little program, uses numbers as a test, and lets it run in a loop, plotting the data so he can make sure the distribution is random or close enough. He could just use a die, but this is more fun. He puts in names and then goes to run it once more.

~~~

“What are you doing Mark?” Eduardo asks.

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t paid this much attention to me in… hmm, no, you’ve never paid this much attention to me. So, what’s going on?”

Mark sighs. Mark says, “I noticed, um, at the meeting, there was-“ and stops, then just blurts out, “You were glaring at my phone.”

“I was?”

Mark looks at him and decides he might as well tell him the rest. “Yes, and I thought that it was maybe because I was paying attention to B- someone else. So, I decided to try to pay as much attention to you as I could, see if I was right.”

Eduardo laughs a little.

“So, that’s a no?”

“No, actually, you’re right. I didn’t realize that I was glaring, but I was a little… annoyed that you were texting someone. And I do want your attention, as much of it as you’ll give me.”

“You do?”

Eduardo smiles a little sadly. “I always did.”

Mark looks at him. It took forever for them to get here, to be talking to each other, not yelling or talking _at_ each other. It took time and effort. Mark’s still not entirely sure what worked or why. So when Eduardo sometimes offers up these bits of himself, Mark tries to reciprocate. “Sometimes, sometimes it feels like there’s code running continuously in my head. Sometimes it feels like I’ll lose it if I don’t get it down. Sometimes it feels like it will overwhelm me if I don’t get it out. It was worse when I didn’t know anything about code, just endless ideas with no real structure. Sometimes it’s really hard to pay any attention to anything else at all.”

“Oh, Mark.”

“But, sometimes you’re part of that code.”

“I am?”

“Sometimes the logic, sometimes just a variable, but yes.”

Eduardo reaches out and covers one of Mark’s hands with his own. “That’s really nice to know.”

Mark looks at their hands and turns his over and squeezes Eduardo’s. Eduardo looks a little surprised, but gives him a small, pleased smile. Mark smiles back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is [another version with alternate endings](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11566659/chapters/25988466) (TSN Kink Meme Prompt Ficlets - Mark/Other, Chapter 10).


	36. Rambling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/6467.html?thread=12145219#t12145219%0A): Eduardo/Mark. Drunk!Wardo talking to Mark while he's wired in, thinking Mark can't hear him. Something sappy and cute would be perfect.

It’s weird how familiar and how new this is to Eduardo. Eating with Chris and Dustin while Mark is on his computer. It feels like Harvard, but it’s years and miles (both figurative and literal) away from there. It took a hell of a lot of effort and forgiveness to get here. There was a point that Eduardo thought that he would never speak to Mark again and now he stays at Mark’s place when he’s in Palo Alto. Eduardo wonders if he should be exasperated that Mark had suddenly left the dinner table to go code, but really there’s just an odd feeling of fondness. Mark will always be Mark and as annoying as that can be, it’s also kind of comforting. Of course, Eduardo’s had an awful lot of wine.

They finish their meal, laughing and talking – about work, about Mark, about life. It’s good. It’s real. Eduardo spent a good deal of time maintaining a composed façade, wanting to show everyone that he was fine after the settlement. But it was a while before he was even close to fine behind it. After Chris and Dustin leave, Eduardo tidies up. Then he goes to the living room where Mark is on the couch and settles in the easy chair and watches. That’s very familiar, too.

Mark has his headphones on and is staring at the screen, but only typing once in a while. Maybe debugging or testing rather than coding. It doesn’t really matter, his concentration is total. Eduardo smiles a little, letting himself feel the fondness he wants to. He starts talking, knowing that Mark won’t hear his rambling.

“I always thought you’d do something big, something that people would notice. I was right. I so wanted to do something big, too. So, when you asked, not just for me to invest, but to play a part, I was so excited, so flattered, I guess I didn’t really think about whether it was a good idea. And, somehow, while trying to talk people into doing ads, it became almost small, in my mind. Just something college kids were doing. Not the huge deal that it seemed like at first, not the huge deal it actually was.” Eduardo sighs.

“After, after things fell apart-“ Eduardo stops, swallows hard. “I missed you and I hated that I missed you. But you know what I hated most of all? I hated that I didn’t feel better off without you. I told myself I was. Many people also told me, but I didn’t _feel_ it. I think, maybe, I think I loved you. I mean you were my best friend, of course I loved you, but I think I was _in_ love with you. It took me a long time to realize that. I wonder if I knew then, if I would have done anything differently. Maybe I would’ve protected myself more. I wonder if you would’ve done anything differently. Ah well, wishful thinking.”

Eduardo stares hard at Mark, wondering what he’s doing, what has his attention. “I think I’m still in love with you. But I’d be fine if it was never more than this. Me, rambling at you while you’re focused on your computer – how sad is that?”

“As sad as me pretending to work on my computer while listening to you ramble?” Mark asks.

“What?” Eduardo practically squeaks.

Mark pulls his headphones down so they are around his neck and says, “I-“

“You heard that? You were _listening_?”

Mark shrugs. “You used to do it at Harvard. Talk like this. I kind of missed it. Sometimes it was interesting, sometimes it was about trees. I don’t ever remember you saying anything quite like this. Although, you did once say something about my lips, but I didn’t actually catch all of that. You mumble sometimes.”

Eduardo hides his face in his hands. “Kill me now.”

“Why?”

“Why? Why? I’m so embarrassed. Why didn’t you tell me you’d been listening?”

“I thought you would have stopped.”

“So, then why’d you let me know now?”

“Because you said something I really liked hearing.”

Eduardo looks up at that. “You did?”

Mark smiles at him. “Yeah.”

“Really?” Eduardo closes his eyes at how hopeful, _needy_ he sounds.

“Wardo. Wardo, look at me.”

Eduardo opens his eyes and looks at Mark.

“Wardo, me too. Me, too.”

Eduardo can’t stop his mouth from curving into the biggest grin he’s got.


	37. Keeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt](http://tsn-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/6467.html?thread=11895875#t11895875%0A): Eduardo/Mark. Back in Harvard, when Wardo nagged Mark into taking care of himself, Mark made sure to act like it annoyed him. There was no way he could let people see how pathologically needy he was and how possessive he felt of Wardo. But the second time around, when they tentatively start building a friendship again, he has to do things differently. He has to open up.

Mark had never wanted to be dependent on anyone. In fact, college was supposed to be when he learned how to really live on his own. But, apparently, Mark wasn’t really that great at taking care of himself. He wasn’t absolutely terrible at it, well, he was still alive after almost two months of doing it at any rate. Then Eduardo happened. And just like that, Mark didn’t have to take care of himself anymore.

It had been somewhat disquieting to realize after a few months of grumbling about it and giving Wardo exasperated looks and sighs that Mark actually enjoyed being taken care of. He’d felt safe, cared for, and weirdly terrified that someday Eduardo wasn’t going to be there because someday he was going to graduate. It led to a freak out of epic proportions (at least, inside Mark’s head) and a few quiet, but pointed “Knock it off, Wardo”s. Eduardo had given Mark these disappointed and hurt looks and then stopped. And Mark had hated every second of the eleven days it had lasted. He had been about to try to find a way to apologize without actually saying anything that could be taken as an apology when Eduardo had come to him and asked if he’d done something to make Mark angry. Mark felt kind of bad about it, but he really didn’t want to explain what the issue was. Mark said it was just stress and he didn’t really mean to take it out on Eduardo. Eduardo had smiled and said it was okay and then everything went back to how it was before.

Mark occasionally felt a little smothered and resentful, but for the most part he liked being taken care of as much as Eduardo seemed to like taking care of him. Mark still complained sometimes because he didn’t think he was supposed to like it so much. Things got a little weird when he started dating Erica, but for the most part, he tried not to let her impact his life that much, which, in retrospect, was not a great way to approach a relationship and it probably shouldn’t have surprised him that she broke up with him. But it did surprise him and it also hurt him and made him angry and, well, the rest is history.

And Mark might still have been upset about someday losing Wardo in the name of growing up, but he hadn’t expected to happen so soon. He had fully expected Eduardo to come out to Palo Alto with them. He had been counting on it. When he didn’t (and didn’t and didn’t and didn’t), Mark had felt abandoned. Worse than that, he had felt needy and he couldn’t stand feeling like that. And it turned out that he had become even worse at taking care of himself, only avoiding ending up in the hospital (due to malnutrition and exhaustion) by the skin of his teeth. And Sean, actually. Sean had been there when he’d passed out and had gotten him into bed without anyone else being the wiser. Sean hadn’t told anyone and had set up a timer system to remind Mark about eating and sleeping. He’d also charmed a few of the girls that he brought around the house into helping him keep a sort of passive surveillance of Mark to make sure he was eating and sleeping. It wasn’t perfect, but Mark didn’t pass out again. Mark will probably always be grateful to Sean for that because Sean is about the furthest thing there is from a natural caretaker. Sure, it was probably mostly about protecting his investment, so to speak, but it’s something that Mark will always remember. And he will probably always clean up after Sean’s messes because of it.

Then Eduardo showed up and blew up and then froze the account. Mark was incensed. Eduardo had abandoned him and had been upset because Sean, the one keeping Mark together, was there, and then had had the audacity to do something that could have sunk Facebook. At least that had been how Mark had felt at the time. The plan for him to get Eduardo out had started with that anger, but his anger had cooled and calculation had taken over. Eduardo wasn’t going to work as CFO and it was better to get him out as quickly as possible. Mark hadn’t made the decision lightly. He’d known there was a possibility that Eduardo was going to react very badly. But, somehow, even though they’d been at cross purposes for a while by then, he’d hoped that Eduardo would understand. He’d hoped that Eduardo realized that what Mark wanted for Facebook was very different from what Eduardo wanted. But he didn’t. And Mark hadn’t realized just how little Eduardo had understood until the depositions. Mark had thought about trying to explain, but he was pretty sure Eduardo wasn’t going to listen. So, they got through the depositions and everything got settled.

Mark never really learned how to take good care of himself. But he did learn how to hire people to help him with that. He got by with the help of his assistant and housekeeper (and some rather rigid non-disclosure agreements he’d had the legal team come up with). It worked. Not spectacularly, but it worked. He found himself missing Eduardo more than he’d thought he would. He couldn’t seem to let anyone new close to him, which severely limited his pool of friends.

~~~

Mark’s bored. He doesn’t really mind giving to charities, money or time, but he doesn’t really like putting in “face time” at the events. If it wasn’t for Chris assuring him that it was good for Facebook, he would never come to these things. Some of the people aren’t bad, but there are way too many self-congratulatory people that like to attend. Some people are there to be seen like he is, some people are there to be _seen_ in a completely different way, some people are there to network, and he’s pretty sure there are some people there because they have nothing better to do. He hides a yawn behind his glass of champagne. He frowns at the glass, not really wanting it, but not willing to go get something else from the bar. He abruptly decides he’s been there long enough and places the glass on a passing waiter’s tray. He makes his way to the door and out into the hall. He’s not very far from the exit when someone calls out his name. He turns and is shocked when he sees Eduardo there. He’s been doing his best to avoid Eduardo because he didn’t think Eduardo ever wanted to be friends with him again and he knows he can’t accept anything less.

“Eduardo.”

“Mark, hello. I was hoping to catch you before you left.”

“I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“I figured. Otherwise you wouldn’t have shown up, right?” Eduardo asks with a faint smile.

Mark frowns. “Right.”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. We work in the same circles. We’re bound to run into each other now and then. You don’t have to avoid me. I’m sure that we both can be civil.”

“No.”

“No?” Eduardo asks, looking surprised.

“I, I won’t be an acquaintance,” Mark says, knowing his revulsion for the thought leaks into his tone. “I think I’d rather you hated me.”

Eduardo stares at him.

Mark turns and makes his way to the exit. He halfway expects Eduardo to ask why before he can get there, but he doesn’t. Mark doesn’t relax, though, until he’s in his car and on the way home.

~~~

Mark keeps expecting Eduardo to follow it up. As nice and polite as he can be, Eduardo can be as stubborn as Mark when he sets his mind to it. But when Eduardo isn’t at the next couple of things Mark has to attend, Mark decides that he has let it go and stops keeping an eye out for him. That turns out to be a mistake when Eduardo shows up at the very next event and charmingly steals Mark away from the group he was awkwardly making small talk with. Eduardo quickly hustles Mark into a small conference room and closes and locks the door behind them.

Eduardo looks at Mark for a second and then just starts talking. “After the depositions I kept going over everything in my head and I eventually decided that you never really thought of me as a friend. It was the only way I could explain it to myself. But now, I’m confused. What you said… Mark, were we friends?”

Mark blinks at him. “You were my best friend.”

“Then, why?”

“Does it even matter now?”

“Yes, yes, it does. It was years ago and really we didn’t even know each other all that long, but it matters. It shouldn’t, I should be completely over it, past it. I don’t know why I still care, but I do.”

Mark doesn’t know why he finds that so surprising, given Eduardo’s tendency to hold onto things, but he does. “You do?”

“You were my best friend, too.” Eduardo gives Mark a little half-smile. “You know, I think you ruined me. If a relationship isn’t challenging, if I don’t have to work at it, I find it boring.”

Mark returns his half-smile and offers his own confession. “I haven’t been able to make any new friends – it’s just Dustin, Chris, and Sean.”

Eduardo winces a little at Sean’s name, but nods. “We’re so messed up.”

Mark can’t really argue with that. “Yeah.”

Eduardo licks his lips and asks, “So, why? Was it just about my freezing the account?”

“I was angry at first and not just about the account. That was just the tipping point. But after I got over the anger, I realized it wasn’t going to work.”

“You mean, _I_ wasn’t going to work.”

“What do you want me to say? Do I wish that you were the one that found the angel investor? Yes, I do. But you were caught up in the idea of ads and that wasn’t going to happen.”

“Yeah, because ads are such a terrible idea,” Eduardo says dryly.

“At that point, yes. The user base had to grow a lot, Facebook had to become something that people relied on before we could introduce something that might alienate them. It had to be at a place where it’s usability and connectivity far outweighed any other considerations.”

“You could have just talked to me.”

“I tried to talk to you. I tried. You didn’t listen.”

“You didn’t listen to me, either. And when you diluted my shares, it was like you were saying that I wasn’t good enough. That was the worse part. Because that’s the kind of thing I got from my father, but I expected it from him. I never expected it from you.”

“Not right doesn’t mean not good enough. You just didn’t fit with Facebook.”

“That does actually sound better.”

Mark gives a little nod.

Eduardo’s silent for a few seconds. “Okay. Let’s try again.”

“Try what?”

“Friends. Let’s try again. You don’t want to do the polite acquaintances thing and really neither do I, although it seemed like a better idea than avoiding each other forever. So, let’s try being friends again.”

Mark hesitates.

Eduardo looks a little hurt. “You don’t want to be friends?”

“No, I mean, yes, I do. I just, I don’t- I’m still not the best at, uh… What if I mess up?”

“Unless you kick me out of another company, I think we can muddle through.”

“I, um, okay. Let’s try.” Mark feels cautiously happy, but somewhat apprehensive at the same time. Now that they’ve decided to be friends, Mark is going to have to tell Eduardo everything. One, because lack of communication was a big reason why everything went so badly, so quickly before, and two, because he knows his upset over Eduardo not being there, not taking care, also played a part in the whole mess.

~~~

Over the next few weeks, Mark comes close to telling Eduardo a couple of times, but he can’t quite bring himself to do it. He’s pretty sure Eduardo notices. Mark is scared. He doesn’t want to admit how bad he is at taking care of himself. And he may have people who help him now, but he actually _enjoyed_ it when Eduardo did it. He doesn’t want to admit how much losing that affected him. He really doesn’t want to admit how much power Eduardo had… has. 

~~~

Wardo’s poking around in his fridge. Mark’s not actually sure why since they ordered in. Mark’s sitting at the counter, a little distracted because Dustin keeps texting him lines from Jabberwocky and he can’t figure out why. At least it’s better than the song lyrics that he sometimes sends, about half of which Mark can’t place and most of which he can’t figure out the relevance of. Chris once told Mark that he deals with any and all texts from Dustin as if Dustin’s drunk and/or high. Mark sees the merit in that approach.

“Wow, there’s a lot of stuff in here, Mark,” Eduardo says.

Mark grunts, only half-listening, trying to remember what ‘uffish’ is supposed to mean and wondering why he even cares.

“You eat all this fruit?”

“Hmm? No, not really. Sometimes bananas or apples, but Amelia’s been trying to get me to eat more.”

“Amelia?” Eduardo asks with a strange note in his voice.

“Or I guess it could be Todd. Sometimes they scheme together.”

“Todd? Your assistant?”

“Yeah.” Mark smiles a little, one of the things he had liked most about Todd is how completely unsurprised he was about his list of duties – as if making sure his boss slept and ate were an expected part of his job.

Eduardo closes the refrigerator and is silent for a few moments. Mark looks up to find him just on the other side of the counter, watching Mark thoughtfully. Mark closes his phone, puts it down, and sits up straighter. “What?” he asks.

“Who’s Amelia?” Eduardo asks.

“Housekeeper.”

“Your housekeeper and assistant go out and buy fruit for you?”

“They get all the groceries or maybe they just have them delivered. I’d have to ask.”

“So, they kind of take care of you, huh?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like it was with y-“ Mark cuts himself off, but it’s too late.

“With me? It’s not like it was with me? How was it with me?”

“I, uh, it was… different.”

“Different how?”

Mark can’t quite pin down the expression on Eduardo’s face. There’s curiosity, but it seems like there’s something underlying that. Mark feels anxious, like maybe it’s now or never. “I liked it,” Mark says quietly.

“You liked it?”

“When you did it.”

“For something you liked, you complained about it a lot,” Eduardo says a little wryly.

“I didn’t think I was supposed to like it. I didn’t _want_ to like it.”

“You seemed fine without me out here. When I came out here, you seemed fine,” Eduardo says with a grimace.

“I passed out,” Mark says flatly.

“What?”

“I passed out – not enough sleep or food. Sean found me, set up a timer reminder and had a few of the girls keep an eye on me so it wouldn’t happen again.”

“What- Why didn’t you tell me?” Eduardo asks, looking upset.

“Yeah, I should have told you that I needed you. Oh wait, I did,” Mark says as sarcastically as he could.

“You could have told me why.”

“Oh, yeah, because that sounds like me. I could have said, ‘Please, Wardo, please, I need you. I suck at taking care of myself, I need you to do it, I _want_ you to do it. Come make sure I eat enough and sleep enough and that I don’t get way too much caffeine. Come keep me company. Come make sure I don’t feel lonely. Come be a part of this amazing thing we’re doing. Come take care of me. Help me. Stay with me,’” Mark says, his voice cracks a little on the last sentence.

“That would have worked,” Eduardo says, his voice shaking a little.

“I didn’t know that. And I wasn’t about to admit even half of that to you. Because what if, what if it didn’t work?”

“Oh, Mark.”

“Wardo, I-“

“Do you know how very much I wanted to be needed? How much I wanted to be needed _by you_? Do you have any idea how much I liked taking care of you?”

“You did?”

Eduardo puts his hand over Mark’s where it rests on the counter and asks, “Do you have any idea how much more I wanted to do?”

“Show me,” Mark says, tilting his chin up.

Eduardo leans over the counter and just before their lips can touch, the doorbell rings, startling them both back a little. Eduardo holds up a finger and says, “Hold that thought,” and leaves the kitchen.

Mark lets out a breath that he hadn’t even realized he was holding.

Eduardo’s back in a minute with the Chinese they had ordered. He sets the bags on the counter and Mark expects him to start unpacking the food. Instead, Eduardo comes over and tugs Mark up and off his stool and into a kiss. It’s gentle and thorough and… arousing and when Eduardo draws back, all Mark wants to do is pull him into another kiss. Although, then he wouldn’t be able to see the big, ridiculous smile on Wardo’s face.

“Come on,” Mark says, wanting to take this up to his bedroom. He latches on to Eduardo’s arm and starts pulling him along.

“Wait,” Eduardo says and pulls away. He gives Mark an apologetic look and grabs the bags of food. He opens the fridge and quickly puts all of the boxes in it and the bags in the recycling. “Don’t laugh,” he says.

“I’m not.”

“You’re doing it in your head.”

Mark shrugs a little because yes, he is. “Come on,” he says again and this time Wardo does.

~~~

When Mark wakes up in the morning, Wardo is already awake and wearing his pants. Mark frowns a little, wondering why.

“So, Amelia works Sundays, huh?”

“Yeah - Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.”

“That would have been nice to know before I went downstairs this morning wearing less than this.”

Mark laughs. “Gave her a scare, huh?”

“More like she gave me one.”

“Ah.”

“That’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“What?”

“Amelia and Todd. I’m thinking they might have to give up some of their duties. Assistant and housekeeper are fine, but I think I want to be the only one who’s your keeper - if that’s okay with you?”

Mark swallows, feeling like when Thefacebook went live. “I, that would be okay with me. That would be good.”

“Good.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just reposting these here.
> 
> Let me know if you find any typos or if the format is messed up or if you think I need any tags.


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